The Private Firm Taking Control of Your Biometric IRS Data
The Treasury just handed ID.me the keys to your IRS and VA data without a single competitive bid.
The U.S. Treasury bypassed federal bidding laws to hand a private company a $1 billion monopoly over the biometric data and federal benefit access of every American taxpayer.
On December 29, 2025, the Department of the Treasury finalized Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) 2032L226A00006, awarding ID.me, LLC a contract with a total ceiling value of $1,032,500,000. The procurement was classified as a 'Sole Source' award through a Justification and Approval (J&A) filing, a move that allowed the Treasury to bypass the competitive bidding requirements mandated by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). By citing 'urgent and compelling' necessity, the agency avoided evaluating alternative vendors or government-owned solutions.
This billion-dollar revenue stream is the culmination of a multi-year lobbying effort led by ID.me CEO Blake Hall. Records show ID.me increased its presence in Washington through firms like Forbes-Tate Partners, successfully arguing that only their proprietary biometric 'video selfie' system could mitigate large-scale fraud. This push occurred even as internal Treasury memos indicated a 2022 plan to transition toward Login.gov— a government-owned identity service. However, Login.gov was sidelined after failing to meet specific biometric standards that ID.me helped establish as the federal benchmark.
While mainstream coverage highlights the prevention of identity theft, the financial trail reveals a massive transfer of public funds to a private entity backed by Viking Global Investors and General Catalyst. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, who oversees the modernization budget, signed off on the administrative framework that solidified this monopoly. The result is a 'regulatory capture' where a private corporation now sets the technical standards for how American citizens exercise their constitutional right to petition the government for redress and access tax transcripts.
For the average citizen, this contract transforms a public service into a private data-harvesting gate. To access tax refunds or veteran health benefits, users must now upload sensitive facial geometry data to a third-party database. If the automated 1:1 face-matching software fails—an issue historically more prevalent among people of color—the individual faces the freezing of essential funds with limited manual recourse. By granting ID.me a no-bid monopoly, the Treasury has ensured that the most basic interactions between the state and the taxpayer are owned and mediated by a private balance sheet.
Summary
The Department of the Treasury bypassed standard competitive bidding to award ID.me a $1.03 billion sole-source contract, establishing the private firm as the mandatory gatekeeper for IRS and VA services. This five-year agreement forces millions of Americans to submit biometric data to a venture-backed corporation to access earned government benefits.
⚡ Key Facts
- Treasury awarded BPA 2032L226A00006 to ID.me with a $1.03 billion ceiling through a non-competitive sole-source justification.
- CEO Blake Hall and lobbyists from Forbes-Tate Partners positioned ID.me’s biometric standards to disqualify the government-owned alternative, Login.gov.
- The contract lacks mandatory data deletion clauses or an 'exit' strategy if citizens opt out of private biometric tracking.
- Internal Treasury documents suggest the 'urgent' justification was used to bypass a years-long competitive procurement process that was already underway.
- Access to IRS and VA benefits is now contingent on submitting sensitive facial geometry data to a venture-capital-backed corporation.
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