Technocrat | April 15, 2019: JEDI Is Back on Track

What’s New This Week:

JEDI Is Back on Track

There was an abundance of cloud-related news last week, with the Pentagon’s $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract dominating headlines.

After a nearly two-month investigation, the Defense Department found no conflicts of interest in the acquisition strategy for JEDI. The investigation followed a lawsuit by Oracle alleging that a pair of DOD employees with links to Amazon Web Services created a conflict of interest during the JEDI cloud procurement.

The Pentagon also announced it’s moving ahead with two competitors for JEDI: Amazon and Microsoft. DOD spokesperson Elissa Smith said the companies met “the minimum requirements” for the contract, while Oracle and IBM were eliminated from the running.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is looking for another partner to manage the JEDI program office —preferably a contractor with commercial and technical expertise, according to a request for information released April 9. The winning company will be responsible for managing the JEDI contract and overseeing subcontractors. BGOV’s Chris Cornillie explains in this week’s exclusive story.

The Central Intelligence Agency is getting ready to update a commercial cloud offering called Commercial Cloud Enterprise, or C2E. After extensive market research, the CIA concluded that a multi-cloud, multi-vendor approach is best. Industry experts say the CIA’s decision is a clear message for the DOD about rethinking its single-vendor approach.

The DOD is juggling a lot at the moment, as it moves ahead with an interconnected cloud environment. The agency is in the process of analyzing its legacy applications so it can decide what to do with them long-term.

The Defense Infrastructure Systems Agency found that many of these legacy applications are intertwined, and “moving one application to the cloud is really a detriment if you don’t move everything,” cloud chief John Hale said during a summit last week.

Agencies should take note of Army officials who have learned that the “junk” needs to be eliminated as data is migrated to the cloud. And even if an application is part of a cloud migration, not all of its data should be included.

There’s more news beyond the cloud, so keep reading!

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Get Smart

“The scope and complexity of DOD’s mission requires multiple clouds from multiple vendors. JEDI is one element of DOD’s overall multi-cloud strategy and part of larger efforts to modernize information technology across the DOD enterprise.”

—Elissa Smith, spokesperson for the Department of Defense

Read more in this week’s exclusive from Bloomberg Government.

Beyond Legacy

Army Experiments with Enterprise-IT-as-a-Service

The Army is launching a pilot program that would provide enterprise IT-as-a-service to its 288 bases and other locations worldwide. The program could help the Army meet requirements for enabling multi-domain operations — an area where it currently lags. Read more.

Pentagon Developing New Process for Buying Software

The Pentagon wants to modernize its software acquisition process. Following the Defense Innovation Board’s recommendations released in March, the Pentagon is planning to create two separate procedures for purchasing software and hardware. Read more.

Eye on Security

DHS Cyber Goals Face Uncertainty Post-Nielsen

Following the abrupt departure of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the Department of Homeland Security is concerned that whoever comes next won’t view cybersecurity as a priority. The newly formed Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could suffer the most. Read more.

Initiative Aims to Boost Federal Cybersecurity Workforce

Private companies and 11 federal agencies have partnered to create the Cybersecurity Talent Initiative, which will allow recent graduates to work on cyber programs at participating agencies — including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Department. Read more.

Get an Insider’s View of Government Cloud.

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Click here to view our speaker lineup, agenda- and to register.

This free 60-minute webinar will cover:

How cloud computing supports agencies’ IT modernization efforts
GSA’s role in promoting cloud adoption
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Strategy & Leadership

GAO: Agencies Should Improve Shared-Services

The Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration need to do more for their shared-services initiatives, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. The GSA is in the process of finalizing one such initiative for its NewPay payroll system. Read more.

Tech-Savvy Fellows Join Congressional Offices

The House and Senate recently welcomed TechCongress fellows, who will bring their technology expertise to various congressional offices. The demand for tech-savvy fellows has grown significantly since the program launched back in 2016 with only two graduates. Read more.

Next Tech

Can AI Bots Help Decipher Government Policies?

Are machines smart enough to interpret multifaceted government policies? The Office of Personnel Management wants to find out. It’s seeking artificial intelligence language processing bots that can be customized and used by federal employees without advanced tech skills. Read more.

DARPA Introduces $34M Space Launch Challenge

Military space launches take years of planning and require complex infrastructure. But it’s time to move to a “risk-accepting philosophy and a much faster pace,” said the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as it searches for a tech partner in a new challenge. Read more.