House GOP considers limits on JEDI cloud funding

House Republicans are considering whether to hold back money designated for the "JEDI" cloud contract until the Defense Department provides Congress with more information, according to Bloomberg News.

The House Armed Services Committee apparently has draft language in the next defense authorization bill to require a fuller explanation from DOD for the single-award strategy for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure. Estimates put the contract’s value at up to $10 billion.

This move comes on the heels of a letter sent to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees from a leading IT industry trade group objecting to DOD's single-award strategy.

The IT Alliance for Public Sector said that a single award runs contrary to commercial best practices. Instead, ITAPS believes that JEDI should be a multiple award contract.

This has been a long standing complaint from many in industry since DOD launched JEDI last summer. But the department has held steady to their plan of making a single award.

In passing the fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill, Congress asked DOD to send reports justifying their strategy before they can issue a final solicitation. DOD officials said they will comply by May 7 -- this coming Monday.

Requirements in the draft authorization bill echo what Congress is already asking DOD for.

Bloomberg reports that the House Armed Services Committee will take up the defense authorization bill on May 9, two days after DOD’s reports to Congress are due.