RFP for JEDI cloud contract slips past May deadline
Officials are still working on the final solicitation for the massive cloud initiative.
The timing of the final proposal for the Defense Department’s massive cloud program is slipping from a self-imposed deadline of the end of May.
DOD's chief spokesperson Dana White told reporters at a briefing May 31 that the department was still working on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program’s final request for proposal and that there was "no timeline" on its release.
"We are working on it, but it's important that we don’t rush towards failure," White said. "We have a lot more players in it. This is something different from some of our other acquisition programs because we do have a great deal of commercial interest."
White said the first- and second-draft RFPs generated more than 1,000 responses, and DOD needs time to sift through them.
"I don't have a timeline on it, but we are moving, and we also want to take in all of the different stakeholders and consider how we move best forward," she said.
When asked if DOD would be able to make a September deadline for final source selection, White said, "We're moving forward as quickly as we can to get this right."
White also said that there’s been no political pressure from the White House to influence the JEDI contract, and it remains a full and open competition.