In a massive 313-page report released Wednesday, the Defense Department’s (DoD) inspector general deemed the contract’s acquisition process both reasonable and consistent with the law. [Read: The world has less billionaires in 2020, but Jeff Bezos is still the richest]
DoD: Yeah, there were ethical concerns, but it’s still all good
Despite generally endorsing how the deal came to be, the DoD’s report did list some ethical concerns. Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising discovery came during interviews, when the Pentagon’s watchdog found witnesses blocked from answering certain questions, citing something called “presidential communications privilege.” This restricted them from answering questions verbally, and could only do so after White House vetted their written responses, notes the Financial Times. “Therefore, we could not definitively determine the full extent or nature of interactions that administration officials had, or may have had, with senior DoD officials regarding the JEDI Cloud procurement,” said the DoD.
The Pentagon report is cool, but it doesn’t settle JEDI cases
The DoD’s report is certainly a major boon for the Redmond tech giant, but the saga is far from over. Not only will a federal court formally decide the matter, a protest lawsuit filed by Oracle also challenges the DoD’s decision to grant the contract to a single company. On the other hand, Microsoft appears understandably pleased, praising the Pentagon’s inspector general for making it clear that the DoD established a proper procurement process. All work related to the JEDI cloud computing system is currently suspended until the case has been fully litigated.
