For businesses that have recently been awarded a SEWP contract — NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement vehicle — the next step is getting set up to accept payment from federal purchasing agents. Most of those payments come by government purchase card. And while accepting a government purchase card looks straightforward on the surface, how that transaction is processed determines whether the SEWP contract holder is paying significantly more in interchange costs than necessary.

Winning a SEWP contract opens the door to federal business across every government agency. What most new SEWP contract holders are never told is that accepting the payment correctly — and at the lowest possible interchange cost — requires a specific merchant account setup that most processors don’t offer.

What Is a SEWP Contract and How Do Agencies Pay?

The SEWP contract is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract administered by NASA that gives all federal agencies access to a pre-competed catalog of IT products, services, hardware, software, and support solutions. SEWP contract holders can receive orders from any federal agency — making it one of the most versatile contract vehicles available to IT vendors and technology companies.

Government contractors can receive federal payments in several ways, including ACH, wire transfer, and government purchase card.

Federal purchasing agents typically pay SEWP contract holders using government purchase cards — GSA SmartPay cards operating on the Visa and Mastercard networks. These cards pay quickly, typically settling in two to three business days, which is a significant cash flow advantage over traditional invoicing that can take 30 days or more.

SEWP Contract Payment Processing — What Most Vendors Don’t Know

When a government purchasing agent pays a SEWP contract holder by purchase card, the transaction carries an interchange cost that the vendor absorbs. For most SEWP contract holders — particularly those new to government contracting — this cost is treated as fixed. It is not.

Visa and Mastercard created specific interchange programs for government purchase card transactions specifically to encourage vendors to submit detailed line-item data with each payment. When that data is submitted correctly, the interchange cost on eligible transactions can be reduced by 30 to 40 percent compared to a standard submission. When it is not submitted correctly — which is the case for the majority of government vendors — those savings are simply never realized.

For a SEWP contract holder regularly processing IT equipment, software licenses, or services paid by government purchase card, the difference between a correctly configured merchant account and a standard one can represent thousands of dollars per year in unnecessary interchange costs.

Level 3 Processing for SEWP Contract Holders

Level 3 processing — now operating under Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP), also referred to as Product 3 — refers to the submission of detailed line-item transaction data with each eligible government purchase card payment. This data mirrors what would appear on an itemized invoice: purchase order number, item description, quantity, unit of measure, unit cost, tax amount, freight amount, and ship-to and ship-from postal codes.

When this data is submitted correctly on each eligible transaction, the transaction qualifies for a lower interchange category. The cost reduction can be substantial — and it applies to every eligible government purchase card payment processed under the SEWP contract.

The difference between paying the non-qualified rate of 2.95% and the CEDP Verified rate of 1.75% on every eligible government purchase card transaction is significant. On $500,000 in annual government purchase card volume, that difference represents approximately $6,000 per year — simply from having the merchant account configured correctly.

SEWP Contract Large Ticket Transactions — A Program Worth Knowing

SEWP contracts frequently involve large individual orders — IT equipment, software licensing, and technology services with transaction values well above typical retail purchases. For SEWP contract holders regularly receiving government purchase card payments above $5,557.14, there is a separate Visa interchange program that offers even lower rates.

As of August 2026, the Visa GSA Large Ticket interchange rate is 1.20% + $39.00 per transaction for eligible transactions of $5,557.14 and above. For a SEWP contract holder processing a $20,000 IT equipment order, the difference between paying the standard P-card rate and qualifying for the GSA large ticket rate is meaningful on a single transaction — and compounds significantly across a year of federal orders.

Surcharging on SEWP Contract Orders

Some SEWP contract holders ask whether they can add a surcharge to government purchase card transactions to offset interchange costs. Whether surcharging is permitted depends on the specific contract terms and agency requirements. Some agencies and contract structures permit a surcharge of up to three percent — others do not.

For SEWP contract holders where surcharging is not permitted or not practical, Level 3 interchange optimization is the primary tool for reducing the cost of accepting government purchase card payments. Reducing interchange from 2.70% to 1.75% through correct data submission effectively offsets a significant portion of the processing cost — without passing any additional charge to the purchasing agency.

What SEWP Contract Holders Should Verify About Their Payment Setup

• Is the merchant account configured for Level 3 / CEDP data submission? Standard merchant accounts typically do not submit Level 3 data automatically. A specifically configured gateway is required.
• Are the required data fields transmitting correctly on every transaction? Many accounts that support Level 3 are missing specific fields — such as the purchase order number — that are critical for interchange qualification.
• Are transactions qualifying at the CEDP Verified / Product 3 rate? A statement review will show what interchange categories government purchase card transactions are actually clearing at versus what they should be clearing at.
• Do large orders qualify for the Visa GSA Large Ticket rate? SEWP orders above $5,557.14 may qualify for 1.20% + $39.00 — but only with correct Level 3 data submission and proper account configuration.
• Are there STND or EIRF charges on the processing statement? These indicate transactions that downgraded — meaning required data was missing and the transaction did not qualify for the lower available rate.

Revolution Payments and SEWP Contract Payment Processing

Revolution Payments has specialized in government contractor payment processing for over 25 years — including IT vendors, technology companies, and SEWP contract holders accepting government purchase cards from federal agencies across every department.

The interchange optimization programs that Visa and Mastercard created for government purchase card transactions have been available for decades — but most SEWP contract holders, particularly those new to federal contracting, are never shown how to take advantage of them. Getting the merchant account configured correctly from the start is significantly easier than identifying and correcting an interchange qualification problem after months of overpaying.

For SEWP contract holders who have recently been awarded a contract and are setting up payment processing for the first time — or who are already processing and want to confirm their current setup is working correctly — a no-cost statement review will show exactly where transactions are qualifying and whether there are opportunities to reduce interchange costs on government purchase card payments.