US President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Committee winter meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC on February 1, 2018.

The Republican National Committee has hired a tiny, unknown company, which is run by an Army veteran who leads a private intelligence firm, to dig up opposition research on Democrats for the 2020 campaign.

The company, called the Outliers Group, received $10,000 from the RNC in March for research and consulting services, according to the RNC's latest Federal Election Commission filing. It marks the first time Outliers has been paid by any political entity since its founding, FEC records show.

Outliers is run by Rob Berra, a former U.S. Army infantry officer and managing director of Clerestory Research, which also isn't known as a go-to firm for the GOP.

"This was for Democrat oppo research services. Searching for and analyzing public records," Mike Reed, the RNC's deputy chief of staff of communications, told CNBC in an email describing Outliers' role. "We partner with a variety of firms to assist us with this type of work — as we are doing research on dozens of Democrat candidates in preparation for 2020."

Outliers is such an unknown entity that leaders of President Donald Trump's campaign hadn't heard of it. "Not heard of either" Outliers or Clerestory, a senior Trump campaign advisor told CNBC.