Perplexity becomes second AI platform cleared for FedRAMP prioritization

Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, is ramping up its push for government use, inking a new deal with the General Services Administration to offer its product for just 25 cents per agency. 

GSA announced the deal with Perplexity on Wednesday, emphasizing that the product will be offered directly through the agency’s Multiple Award Schedule rather than through a government reseller, a first-of-its-kind agreement. The move aligns with GSA’s OneGov initiative, which aims to work directly with technology vendors to cut prices and streamline contracting. 

Under the deal, Perplexity’s Enterprise Pro for Government will be available on GSA’s MAS for a quarter to agencies over an 18-month term. 

In doing so, Perplexity also received prioritized authorization under FedRAMP, the government’s primary security review program that approves cloud-based technologies for federal use. Perplexity is only the second company to do so, joining OpenAI, which received prioritized authorization in September. 

According to GSA, Perplexity’s Enterprise platform was also streamlined through the FedRAMP 20x pilot, which is focused on simplifying the cloud services approval process and reducing the timeline from months to weeks. 

“This administration has made clear that agencies should have the best of American AI not in 2028, 2027, or 2026 — but right now, in 2025,” Jerry Ma, Perplexity’s vice president of global affairs and deputy chief technology officer, said in GSA’s press release.

Ma, who most recently served as the chief information officer for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, told FedScoop in a statement that the Trump administration has been “open about their desire to make AI capabilities available straight from the source.” 

“Feds have more on their plates than ever as the government returns to normal operations,” he wrote, adding, “Feds love Perplexity for its accuracy and verifiable citations, as well as the ability to select their preferred AI models and do deeper research.” 

Ma noted Perplexity is the “first multi-model AI platform” offered under the OneGov deal. 

Perplexity’s platform uses large language models from other companies, such as Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to conduct real-time internet searches and generate summaries for users. 

GSA noted Perplexity’s platform has optional connections to common agency systems like Microsoft’s OneDrive, Outlook or SharePoint. 

Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Services, said the direct deal with Perplexity is an “additional pathway to leverage the transformative advantages of AI.” 

It comes just over two months since the technology company launched “Perplexity for Government,” which has enhanced security features for federal workers who want to access the platform from whitelisted government locations. 

With the product, federal workers who are logged into a government network or using a federal email domain will have access to “enterprise-level security” top models from AI providers including Google’s Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity’s Sonar model, Ma told FedScoop in September. 

Perplexity is able to automatically identify most federal networks, but should the auto-identification process miss certain networks, agency chief information officers, chief information security officers or other authorized officials can also submit any network ranges to the company. 

The deal follows similar GSA agreements with Silicon Valley-based companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta to offer their products to government agencies at a fraction of the normal price.

This story was updated Nov. 19, 2025, with comments from Ma to FedScoop.