Page 33 - FCW, May 2021

Shortly after the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January, Defense Department spokesman Russell Goe- maere said DOD “has consistently stated in all court filings, and public discussions, that the allegation of improper influence is not supported. The DOD [inspector general] considered these allegations and found no evidence that improper influence occurred or affected the procurement process or award decision.”
Attorneys for AWS have argued that the decisions to award Microsoft the contract and then to reaffirm that award in September 2020 after allowing for revisions to the original bids reflected Trump’s long-standing animus toward Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of AWS parent com- pany Amazon.
“The record of improper influence by former President Trump is disturbing, and we are pleased the court will
ACQUISITION
INSPECTOR GENERAL: OTAs REQUIRE MORE GUIDANCE
DOD’s internal watchdog found that the department lacks effective oversight of how such contracts are awarded and managed
By Lauren C. Williams
Other transaction authorities have been an attractive option for Defense Department agencies seeking to rap- idly acquire and deploy new cloud solutions. The Defense Information Systems Agency, for example, used an OTA for its Cloud-Based Internet Isolation program.
Other OTAs, however — most notably the U.S. Trans- portation Command’s $950 million agreement for cloud migration services in 2018, which has since been canceled — have proven problematic. In a recent audit, DOD’s Office of Inspector General raised concerns about security and a lack of oversight of other transactions (OTs) award- ed through consortiums of at least two individuals or organizations.
Auditors analyzed 13 awards totaling nearly $25 billion and found that DOD contracting personnel were not able to consistently track or even have an accurate count of OTs and their dollar values “because the Federal Procure- ment Data System-Next Generation was not set up to track consortium OTs or individual consortium projects,” the report states.
Furthermore, those employees did not always adhere to applicable laws and regulations because of a lack of training and guidance. Insufficient guidance also affected DOD’s ability to negotiate fees with the consortium man- agement organizations (CMOs) that serve as single points
review the remarkable impact it had on the JEDI contract award,” an AWS spokesperson said in an email statement. “AWS continues to be the superior technical choice, the less expensive choice, and would provide the best value to the DOD and the American taxpayer.”
The court’s willingness to listen to the evidence could mean a change in direction for DOD’s cloud plans. In Janu- ary, DOD’s CIO office informed Congress that it would look beyond JEDI to meet its cloud requirements if the litiga- tion drags on. The program has been under a stop-work order for over a year because of the lawsuit.
The “prospect of such a lengthy litigation process might bring the future of the JEDI cloud procurement into ques- tion,” the information paper states. “Under this scenario, the DOD CIO would reassess the strategy going forward.”
of contact between DOD and the awardees.
Those fees were often a percentage of the over- all agreement, up to 6%, according to the report, and potential earnings ranged from several million dollars to more than a billion dollars. The IG found that one CMO managed six consortiums, and each had a differ-
ent fee structure.
The auditors also concluded that DOD contracting per-
sonnel relied too heavily on CMOs “to vet consortium members and ensure proper safeguarding of controlled and restricted data.” That lack of direct oversight of sen- sitive information could have implications for national security, they added.
The IG issued 13 recommendations that include work- ing with the General Services Administration to update the Federal Procurement Data System, establishing controls to ensure that sensitive information is sent only to consortium members with the proper security clearance, and establish- ing best practices for competition, documentation and fee negotiations during the OT award process.
May 2021 FCW.COM 31