Though the Government Accountability Office may have cleared one obstacle to the Department of Defense’s potentially $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative by dismissing an Oracle protest of the contract, another protester is ramping up its arguments against the JEDI contract.
IBM, which first filed a protest of JEDI Oct. 10, filed additional materials with GAO Nov. 19 in support of its claim that the DoD has turned its back on the wishes of Congress and the administration, as well as industry best practice in cloud acquisition.
Members of the private sector have long been critical that the DoD’s decision to award the contract for its sweeping tactical cloud to a single contractor unfairly narrows the playing field to a handful of companies, while ensuring that the agency passes by advantages presented by smaller cloud contractors.
Lawmakers have already called for an investigation into the JEDI contract, saying that it appeared tailored to one specific vendor.
GAO denied Oracle, the first contractor to protest JEDI, but has until Feb. 27, 2019, to issue a decision on IBM’s protest.
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
