CIA Faulted for Choosing Amazon Over IBM on Cloud Contract
The GAO concluded that the CIA had failed to evaluate prices in each firm’s proposal in a fair, comparable way and that the agency had waived a requirement in the project proposal only for Amazon, its report stated.
“We sustain the protest because the agency’s adjustment of scenario prices was unreasonable in that it did not result in evaluation on a common basis,” the GAO said in its report issued last Friday.
The contract to build a secure cloud for the CIA is reportedly valued at up to $600 million over four years.
The GAO recommended the Central Intelligence Agency reopen the competition and amend the request for proposals to rectify the problems cited in the audit.
The CIA has 60 days to decide how it will respond and has not indicated how it will proceed, though US agencies almost always follow the GAO’s advice.
More: CIA Faulted for Choosing Amazon Over IBM on Cloud Contract
I guess the CIA is too accustom to ignoring rules and procedures… even those laid out by their own Contracts Office.