WASHINGTON—Pentagon officers are contemplating pulling the plug on the star-crossed JEDI cloud-computing mission, which has been mired in litigation from Amazon.com Inc. and faces persevering with criticism from lawmakers.
The Joint Enterprise Protection Infrastructure contract was awarded to Microsoft Corp. in 2019 over Amazon, which has contested the award in court docket ever since.
A federal choose final month refused the Pentagon’s movement to dismiss a lot of Amazon’s case. Just a few days later, Deputy Protection Secretary Kathleen Hicks mentioned the division would overview the mission.
“We’re going to need to assess the place we’re with regard to the continuing litigation round JEDI and decide what the most effective path ahead is for the division,” Ms. Hicks mentioned at an April 30 safety convention organized by the nonprofit Aspen Institute.
Her feedback adopted a Pentagon report back to Congress, launched earlier than the most recent court docket ruling, that mentioned one other Amazon win in court docket might considerably draw out the timeline for this system’s implementation.
“The prospect of such a prolonged litigation course of may convey the way forward for the JEDI Cloud procurement into query,” the Jan. 28 report mentioned.
Ms. Hicks and different Pentagon officers say there’s a urgent have to implement a cloud program that serves most of its branches and departments. The JEDI contract, valued at as much as $10 billion over 10 years, goals to permit the Pentagon to consolidate its present patchwork of information programs, give protection personnel higher entry to real-time data and put the Protection Division on a stronger footing to develop artificial-intelligence capabilities which might be seen as very important sooner or later.
Some lawmakers and government-contracting consultants say JEDI needs to be scuttled as a result of its single-vendor, winner-take-all strategy is inappropriate and outmoded for mammoth enterprises just like the Division of Protection.
These individuals say the Pentagon ought to transfer to an more and more in style strategy to enterprise cloud-computing that features a number of firms as contributors. Spreading out the work additionally reduces the chance of authorized challenges from excluded firms, they are saying.
Rep. Steve Womack (R., Ark.) known as on the Pentagon final week to begin recent with a brand new contract-bidding course of that will “allow best-in-class functionality by prioritizing the continuing competitors {that a} cloud atmosphere can promote.”
Ought to the Pentagon scuttle JEDI, the federal government might search to patch collectively a brand new cloud program by increasing a number of current Protection Division information-technology contracts, mentioned John Weiler, a longtime JEDI critic who’s govt director of the IT Acquisition Advisory Council, a public-private consortium that advises authorities and trade on tech-procurement finest practices.
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Microsoft has acknowledged the issues created by the delays however mentioned it is able to proceed the mission.
“We agree with the U.S. [government] that extended litigation is dangerous and has delayed getting this expertise to our army service members who want it,” the corporate mentioned. “We stand able to help the Protection Division to ship on JEDI and different mission essential DoD tasks.”
Amazon declined to remark for this text. The corporate has contended in court docket that then-President Donald Trump exerted improper stress on the Pentagon to maintain the contract from going to Amazon as a result of it’s led by Jeff Bezos.
Mr. Trump has blamed Mr. Bezos for what he seen as unfavorable protection of his administration within the Washington Put up, which Mr. Bezos purchased in 2013 for $250 million. The Put up says its editorial choices are unbiased.
On the time, the Trump White Home referred inquiries to the Pentagon, which denied that Mr. Trump or administration officers had any affect on the choice course of.
Earlier than the most recent court docket combat, Oracle Corp. —one of many unique bidders—had sued to halt the contract awarding course of. Its 2019 lawsuit claimed that an Amazon worker who labored for the Pentagon in 2016 and 2017 helped steer the procurement course of to favor Amazon, which then employed him again.
A choose subsequently rejected these allegations, permitting the bidding course of to maneuver ahead.
Amazon has maintained that it bought no favorable therapy from the Pentagon at any level, however the subject resurfaced final week, with Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Rep. Ken Buck (R., Colo.) sending a letter requesting a Justice Division investigation into alleged conflicts by that worker and others.
Final month, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) wrote a letter to Pentagon officers elevating considerations concerning the company’s oversight of the mission and in search of extra particulars about alleged conflicts of curiosity and attainable improprieties, which some critics and rival firms say may need skewed the preliminary procurement steps in Amazon’s favor.
A number of of the considerations raised in each letters had been reviewed beforehand. A federal choose in 2019 concluded that the previous Amazon worker “didn’t taint” this system.
A Pentagon inspector normal report final 12 months decided that the Pentagon adviser didn’t violate any moral obligations or give preferential therapy to Amazon.
Steven Schooner, a George Washington College regulation professor who focuses on authorities contracting, mentioned early questions concerning the Pentagon’s underlying procurement technique for JEDI have grown over time.
“And all of that’s earlier than this case turned one of the crucial jaw-dropping, head-scratching collections of conflicts of curiosity conceivable,” he mentioned.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
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