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Written by Billy Mitchell Apr 17, 2020 | FEDSCOOP

Several Democrats on Capitol Hill have condemned the White House for not openly participating in an inspector generals investigation of the militarysJoint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI)commercial cloud contract.

TheOffice of the Inspector General issued along and sweeping reporton its nearly yearlonginvestigation into the $10 billion JEDI contract, which the Pentagon awarded to Microsoft last fall. In it, theDepartment of Defensewatchdog found evidence of ethical misconduct and the improper sharing of proprietary information with competing companies, among other things.

The part that didnt sit right with Democrat lawmakers, however, was the White Houses refusal tospeak with the IG regardingthe Trump administrationsalleged inappropriate interference with the contract evaluation and award process a claim that is at the heart of losing bidder Amazon Web Services ongoingprotest of the contract.The White Housedid not allow staff to speak with investigators, claiming presidential communications privilege, and the Pentagons general counsel instructed senior DOD leaders not to discuss any communications they may have had with the White House.

Despite that, the IG determined the evidence we received showed that the DoD personnel who evaluated the contract proposals and awarded Microsoft the JEDI Cloud contract were not pressured regarding their decision on the award of the contract by any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House,

This led many lawmakers and other experts to questionhow the IG could determine with crystal-clear certainty that the White House didnt, in fact, taint the contracts award to Microsoft. Even the IG says in its report: 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, which prevented it from reviewing the matter fully.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, thetop Democraton theSenate Armed Services Committee, called the report troubling and incomplete.

It offers yet another example of the presidents efforts to inappropriately pressure federal agencies, Reed said. He went as far as to suggest that President Trumps recent removal of acting DOD Inspector General Glen Fine had to do with his tough probing of Pentagon matters, such as this one. Mr. Fines removal now appears connected to his willingness to do his job and ask hard questions.

Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told FedScoop the reports findings that DOD personnel werent pressured is good news. However, the White Houses refusal to participate in the investigation makes it impossible to know if the administration attempted to interfere at a high level,the Washington state Democrat said.

Unfortunately, the reports findings are stained by the White Houses refusal to cooperate in this investigation by once again invoking broad claims of executive privilege, Smith said. This administrations complete disregard for independent oversight is further highlighted by the Presidents recent firing of the Departments acting Inspector General. I commend the Inspector General for completing a thorough inquiry under challenging circumstances and I look forward to the Department moving forward in development of critical cloud computing infrastructure.

Smiths minority counterpart Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, didnt touch on the White Houses involvement in the investigation. The JEDI program is vital to our national security, he told FedScoop in an emailed statement. Now that the IG report is complete, it is imperative DOD move forward.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the matter is corruption is in plain sight, while pointing out Trumps well-documented disdain for Amazon and its owner Jeff Bezos.

When hes not firing Inspector Generals, Trump is obstructing their investigations. Here, hes hiding communications about a DOD contract for Amazon, a company Trump has repeatedly tried to punish because its founder owns the Washington Post, Schiff tweeted.

FedScoop reached out to other top Republicans on the Armed Servicespanels but they declined to comment.

The Pentagon took the report to be a final blow surrounding the JEDI cloud saga.The Inspectors General final report on the JEDI Cloud procurement confirms that the Department of Defense conducted the JEDI Cloud procurement process fairly and in accordance with law, a Pentagon spokesperson told FedScoop in an emailed statement. This report should finally close the door on the media and corporate-driven attacks on the career procurement officials who have been working tirelessly to get the much needed JEDI Cloud computing environment into the hands of our frontline warfighters while continuing to protect American taxpayers.

The same day as the reports release, Microsoft published an official blog post attributed to Jon Palmer, deputy general counsel, in which he fired shots at Amazon for its continued protest of the contract. Amazon did build its pricing for the entire procurement, and it wasnt good enough to win, Palmer writes. And now it wants a re-do. Thats not good for our war-fighters. Thats not good for confidence in public procurement. Thats not good for anybody but Amazon.

Amazon, however, has more questions than answers after the release of the IGs report.

This report doesnt tell us much. It says nothing about the merits of the award, which we know are highly questionable based on the Judges recent statements and the governments request to go back and take corrective action, an AWS spokesperson told FedScoop. And, its clear that this report couldnt assess political interference because several DoD witnesses were instructed by the White House not to answer the IGs questions about communications between the White House and DoD officials. The White Houses refusal to cooperate with the IGs investigation is yet another blatant attempt to avoid a meaningful and transparent review of the JEDI contract award.

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Democrats sound the alarm on White House's 'refusal to cooperate' in JEDI investigation - FedScoop