Page 3 - FCW, August 2019

Trending
Republicans urge Trump not to interfere with JEDI cloud buy
$1.4 billion
in agency contracts will be affected by HHS’ decision to shutter its Program Support Center
Top Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee have urged Pres- ident Donald Trump to move ahead with the Defense Department’s $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infra- structure cloud acquisition, saying any unnecessary delays could endanger the nation’s security.
described for reporters the “tremen- dous” number of complaints he’s received about the JEDI contract from Republican lawmakers and technology companies, such as Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, Bloomberg reported. Trump said he was looking “very seriously” at the contract and would ask the Defense Department to “look into” it.
DOD has already conducted an internal investigation into potential
ning,” they wrote. “While it is under- standable that some of the companies competing for the contract are disap- pointed at not being selected as one of the finalists, further unnecessary delays will only damage our security and increase the costs of the contract.”
An award for the JEDI contract is expected in August. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are the final con- testants. Amazon recently retained a
“We believe that it is essential for our national security to move forward as quickly as possible with the award and implementation of this
contract,” four lawmakers
wrote in a July 18 letter.
“Moving to the cloud will
help DOD operate faster,
more efficiently, and com-
pete with adversaries, like
China.”
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and Robert Wittman (R-Va.) signed the letter. Stefanik is the ranking member of the commit- tee’s Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.
The letter comes after Trump
“We believe that it is essential for our national security to move forward as quickly as possible with the award and implementation of this contract. Moving to the cloud will help DOD operate faster, more efficiently, and compete with adversaries, like China.”
— REPS. MAC THORNBERRY, ELISE STEFANIK, MICHAEL TURNER AND ROBERT WITTMAN
improprieties with the acquisition and concluded, as did a federal judge, that there weren’t any. Additionally, the Armed Services Committee has been keeping an eye on the procurement process, which the lawmakers pointed out in their letter.
“Our committee has conducted over- sight of this contract from the begin-
Trump campaign lobbyist to represent it as controversy around the award ramps up, CNBC reported. Although the contract has survived pre-award protests and a lawsuit, there could be post-award challenges. Moreover, the president has the authority to cancel the acquisition altogether.
— Lauren C. Williams
FCW CALENDAR
8/14 Cloud
9/4-5 Cybersecurity
ODNI’s Sue Gordon, DHS’ John Zangardi and U.S. Cyber Command’s
Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty are among the speakers at the 10th annual Billington Cybersecurity Summit.
Washington, D.C. is.gd/FCW_billington
9/11 IT modernization
FCW’s Digital Transformation Workshop features the Defense Digital
Service’s Katie Olson, the U.S. Digital Service’s Traci Walker, NARA’s Laurence Brewer and GSA’s David Harrity. Washington, D.C. FCW.com/DigitalTransformation
DHS’ Kshemendra Paul, the State Department’s Brian Merrick
and the U.S. Marshals Service’s Karl Mathias are among the speakers at FCW’s Smart Cloud, Smart Government Workshop.
Washington, D.C.
FCW.com/CloudWorkshop
August 2019 FCW.COM 3