WASHINGTON
– After a narrow inspector general’s review of the Joint Enterprise Defense
Infrastructure (JEDI) program’s procurement process left outstanding ethics and
propriety questions, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is renewing his requests for
documents and information from the Defense Department under its new leadership.
“DoD
OIG did not examine key issues that occurred before the request for proposal (RFP)
process, including allegations of pressure from senior leadership to conduct
the entire contract without a competitive bidding process…” Grassley wrote, “as well as the
apparently unusual and significant involvement of senior leadership throughout
the entirety of the process.”
Grassley
wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to request that the department fully
and finally respond to his oversight requests that began
more
than two years ago. Additionally, Grassley is seeking further documentation
about department officials who were involved both before and during the JEDI
contracting process.
The
JEDI program’s procurement process has been mired by allegations of conflicts
of interest, which are particularly concerning because of the contract’s $10
billion price tag.
Grassley
first wrote to Defense Department leadership in 2019,
seeking
information on department policies intended to mitigate conflicts of
interest and prevent the tailoring of procurement requests to match a specific
vendor, as has been alleged in the JEDI program procurement process. He
continued
to press for information, particularly after the Defense Department’s Office of
Inspector General issued recommendations to the department following Grassley’s
inquiries.
Full
text of Grassley’s letter to Secretary Austin follows or can be found
HERE.
April 28, 2021
The
Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary
Department
of Defense
1000
Defense Pentagon
Washington D.C. 20301
Dear
Secretary Austin:
Since April of 2019, I have sent three
letters to the Department of Defense (Department) inquiring into the contracting
process for the cloud computing program known as the Joint Enterprise Defense
Infrastructure program (JEDI).
[1]
I have yet to receive fulsome responses to any of my letters. In response to my most recent letter dated
January 1 of this year, I received a mere handful of documents—almost all of
which I have received before, and most of which have been publicly available
for some time.
[2] According
to information provided to my staff, the material I have received thus far
represents only a fraction of the material the Department originally gathered
in response to my requests. I am looking to you to correct this situation as
soon as possible, particularly since the Department of Defense Office of
Inspector General’s (DoD OIG) administrative review of the procurement has left
many questions unanswered.
Many have seized on DoD OIG’s administrative
review of the JEDI procurement process as proof that the Department, with the
exception of particular individuals, did not commit any substantive wrongdoing.
[3]
However, I have serious concerns about the review’s narrow scope. DoD OIG did not examine key issues that
occurred before the request for proposal (RFP) process, including allegations
of pressure from senior leadership to conduct the entire contract without a
competitive bidding process (also known as an Other Transactional Authority or
OTA) as well as the apparently unusual and significant involvement of senior leadership
throughout the entirety of the process.
[4]
DoD OIG’s review also reportedly failed
to fully consider information submitted through the office’s whistleblower
hotline.
[5]
I do not know to what extent these issues could have impacted the contract, but
those are questions the review should have considered, investigated, and
answered.
Further, I was advised that OIG worked in
concert with the Department to withhold documents gathered in response my
January 1, 2021 letter. Consequently, I also intend to write to Acting
Inspector General Sean O’Donnell requesting additional detailed information
regarding this review.
In an effort to provide continuing
oversight of the JEDI program and the Department’s contracting process
generally, please provide unclassified versions of documents that were originally
compiled in response to my letter regarding JEDI dated January 1, but have not been
provided. Additionally, please also produce unclassified versions of the
documents listed below. Please provide all documents not later than April 30,
2021.
- A
copy of all requests made by the OIG to the DOD in support of its
JEDI administrative review;
- A
copy of all materials provided to the OIG regarding the JEDI
administrative review;
- A
copy of all materials relating to OGE Forms 278 and 450, including, but
not limited to email exchanges, and the ethics files and the forms
themselves, for the following former DOD employees:
- Deap
Ubhi
- Sally
Donnelly
- Anthony
DeMartino
- James
Mattis
- A
copy of all emails written by Deap Ubhi, Sally Donnelly and Anthony
DeMartino using the search terms: JEDI, JEDI procurement, OTA, Amazon, cloud,
Jeff, Bezos, Marcuse, Lynch, Teresa, Carlson, tailored acquisition, AMZ,
and Amazonian;
- The
date which the following individuals received and completed their ethics
training at the DOD including any materials signed demonstrating
completion of that training:
- Deap
Ubhi
- Sally
Donnelly
- Anthony
DeMartino
- Any
documents relating to the following individuals and whether or not they
currently enjoy or are being considered for Special Government Employee
Status by the DOD:
- Deap
Ubhi
- Sally
Donnelly
- Anthony
DeMartino
- Please
provide all documentation in the possession of the Department’s Standards
of Conduct Office (SOCO) referencing the below individuals including, but
not limited to, those that demonstrate dates of meetings and training
received, e-mail correspondence, ethical questions that were posed, and
responses that were provided.
- Deap
Ubhi
- Sally
Donnelly
- Anthony
DeMartino
Thank you in advance for your attention
and assistance in this important matter. Should you have any questions, please
reach out to Danny Boatright on my Judiciary Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.
Sincerely,
-30-
[1] Letter from Charles
E. Grassley, Chairman, S. Comm. on Fin. & David Perdue, U.S. Sen., Armed
Servs. Comm., to Christopher C. Miller, Acting Sec’y of Def., Dep’t of Def.
(Jan. 1, 2021);
see also Letter from Charles
E. Grassley, Chairman, S. Comm. on Fin., to Patrick M. Shanahan, Acting Sec’y
of Def., Dep’t of Def. (Apr. 9, 2019); Letter from Charles E. Grassley,
Chairman, S. Comm. on Fin., to Mark Esper, Sec’y of Def., Dep’t of Def. (Oct.
5, 2020).
[2] Letter from Charles
E. Grassley, Chairman, S. Comm. on Fin. & David Perdue, U.S. Sen., Armed
Servs. Comm., to Christopher C. Miller, Acting Sec’y of Def., Dep’t of Def.
[3] Report on
the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Cloud Procurement,
Inspector Gen. Dep’t of Def., Report No.
DODIG-2020-079 (Apr. 13, 2020).
[4] Letter from
Kenneth Glueck, Exec. Vice President, Oracle Corp., to Glenn A. Fine, Acting
Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Def. (Mar. 5, 2020);
see also Letter from Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp.,
to Sean O’Donnell, Acting Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Def. (May 1, 2020);
see also Letter from Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice
President, Oracle Corp., to Sean O’Donnell, Acting Inspector Gen., Dep’t of
Def. (Oct. 13, 2020);
see also Letter
from Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp., to Charles E. Grassley,
Chairman, S. Comm. on Fin. (Dec. 7, 2020).
[5] Letter from
Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp., to Glenn A. Fine, Acting
Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Def. (Mar. 5, 2020);
see also Letter from Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp.,
to Sean O’Donnell, Acting Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Def. (May 1, 2020); Letter
from Kenneth Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp., to Sean O’Donnell,
Acting Inspector Gen., Dep’t of Def. (Oct. 13, 2020); Letter from Kenneth
Glueck, Exec.Vice President, Oracle Corp., to Charles E. Grassley, Chairman, S.
Comm. on Fin. (Dec. 7, 2020).