Share
News

Trump's Acting DOD Secretary Weighs In on a Cloud Contract Conservatives Loathe

Share

President Donald Trump’s acting defense secretary supports a $10 billion winner-take-all cloud computing contract that conservatives are railing against, a Department of Defense spokesman told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are jockeying for position to land the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, a program angling to be the largest stand-alone technology contracts the federal government has ever awarded.

The DOD is expected to select a winner for the contract in mid-July, according to media reports.

“His position is the same as the DoD position,” Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, a public affairs officer who speaks on behalf of acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, said.

Shanahan is expected to face a tough confirmation hearing next week, and his position on JEDI could roil conservatives who believe it’s a bad idea to unify cloud services into one platform.

Trending:
Prince Harry Named in Major Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Rapper

It’s become a controversial issue among some Republicans.

Reps. Steve Womack of Arkansas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, for instance, requested a probe in October 2018 into the Pentagon’s handling of the deal after TheDCNF reported in August of that year that a former senior adviser to former Defense Secretary James Mattis once consulted for Amazon Web Services through her firm.

IBM and Oracle, two of Amazon’s competitors in the cloud industry, filed protests in 2018 of the JEDI contract with the Government Accountability Office.

“It has come to our attention through media reports that individuals who held, or hold, high-ranking positions in the Department have access to the specific contractor,” Womack and Cole wrote in a letter at the time to acting DOD Inspector General Glenn Fine.

Do you have concerns about the JEDI contract?

Experts in the tech industry questioned why the Pentagon chose to take the winner-take-all route for JEDI rather than following the standard of leveraging multiple cloud providers. Only Amazon and Microsoft hold the necessary certifications for the contract.

Conservative groups are skeptical as well.

“A contract of this magnitude should not be awarded as a sole source contract,” a group of conservative groups wrote in a May 16 letter to Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Citizens Against Government Waste, the American Conservative Union and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance were among a handful of groups to sign the letter.

“The use of multiple cloud solutions follows industry-wide best practices utilized by most Fortune 500 companies,” the letter said. “Mr. Hodgkins (Trey Hodgkins of IT Alliance for Public Sector) noted that by using multiple providers, the cybersecurity and functionality of the JEDI system would be improved, costs would decrease through increased competition.”

Related:
Biden Defense Secretary Hospitalized, Placed in Critical Care

Shanahan is likely to get some pushback as he works on becoming defense secretary.

Two of the Democrats on the panel interviewing him — Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — are running against Trump in 2020, meaning they will be looking for viral moments to exploit during the confirmation hearing.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , ,
Share
Founded by Tucker Carlson, a 25-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and Neil Patel, former chief policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, The Daily Caller News Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit providing original investigative reporting from a team of professional reporters that operates for the public benefit. Photo credit: @DailyCaller on Twitter




Conversation