Don’t Mend It
It was March 20, 2018. Uber-government-cronyism recipient Amazon – was on the verge of receiving its biggest dose of cronyism ever.
It was supposed to be in the bag. So much so – that even our initial headline was premature.
Defense Dept Gives Trump Enemy Bezos Ten-Year, Monopoly Cloud Contract
This was in keeping with Amazon’s ongoing ability to land monopoly government contracts.
Amazon: One of the Biggest of Bigfoot Cronyism-Recipient Lobbyists
Amazon: Government – And Its Crony, Monopoly Straight-Jacket
Amazon: Government Has an Ongoing Problem Issuing Monopoly, Crony Contracts
If handing a ten-year tech contract – to but one company – sounds stupid…that’s only because it is:
“One provider – is going to inherently become complacent. And slack off in attending to short-term needs – and innovating long-term betterments. One provider with a ten-year contract – is thus a REALLY bad idea….
“You want multiple providers – each offering overlapping portions of the Defense Department’s very many needs….
“One reason: You have multiple providers constantly competing with each other – to constantly provide the best possible service. No complacency there.
“And then there are the national security implications.
“If you have but one provider – and it suffers a service interruption – the entire Defense Department suffers service interruption.
“And for our military men and women serving in some really bad areas around the globe – service interruptions can and will be deadly.”
Amazon was looking to crony its way into a LOT of our money.
Pentagon’s Next Cloud Contract Could Be Worth Billions.
As information continued to seep out, we learned the “could be worth billions” – was actually upwards of $10 billion.
How did Amazon get to said cronyism?
Having Your Ex-Employees Award Government Contracts…:
“…makes it much more likely you’ll get government contracts….”
The Barack Obama Department of Defense (DoD) hired to oversee the cloud contract – a guy from…Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s cloud backup company.
Suddenly the multi-provider contract – became sole source. And the contractor description was written – so that only Amazon met the specifications.
That proved to be a little bit much for the now-Donald Trump DoD. Beginning with this in July 2018:
Amazon’s Defense Dept Cronyism Comes Under Trump Administration Review
Suddenly, a contract that was supposed to have been awarded by July 2018 – was under more scrutiny than ever in July 2018.
Such is the difference between the Trump Administration – and the Obama Administration. Drain the Swamp, anyone?
Since, we have continued to acquire additional damning information – of all the heinous cronyism that had polluted the process.
Oh Look – Even More Amazon-Defense Department Cronyism
Big Tech Amazon: Additional Government Screening Is Definitely in Order
Republicans Are Right: Defense Department Must Delay Amazon’s Massive Cronyism
How Crony Corrupt is Amazon? The Right and Left Are Both Nauseated By It
Despite all of the very many, very real concerns – the Deep State rallied around the cronyism. In June 2019….
DOD Expects Cloud Award in August
We were getting down to do-or-die time. All of which begged the ultimate question?
A ‘Drain The Swamp’ Test: Will The Trump Admin Reward Amazon’s Killer Cronyism?
For the first time in a very long time – things in DC might be looking up.
Trump Expressed Concerns About Pentagon Cloud Contract
Trump, Fox News Decry Amazon’s Looming $10 Billion Defense Department Cronyism
Which brings us to the last fortnight.
Mark Esper Confirmed as Trump’s Defense Secretary
And one of the very first things newly-minted Defense Secretary Esper did….
New Pentagon Chief Orders Review of ‘War Cloud’ Contract:
“Mark Esper, the newly appointed Pentagon chief, ordered a review of the Defense Department’s ‘war cloud’ contract after President Trump threatened to investigate whether it was written with a bias toward Amazon.
“A Department of Defense (DOD) spokeswoman confirmed the probe in a statement on Thursday.
“‘Keeping his promise to Members of Congress and the American public, Secretary Esper is looking at the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program,’ Elissa Smith, the DOD spokeswoman, said, referring to the highly controversial $10 billion cloud-computing contract.
“‘No decision will be made on the program until he has completed his examination,’ she added.”
Which is extraordinary news.
Another delay – is good.
A denial of the award to Amazon – would be oh-so-much better.
The DoD cloud contracting process – is irrevocably tainted.
To paraphrase The Reverend Jesse Jackson: “End it, don’t mend it.”
In the interest of economic sanity – in the interest of national security – we must start over.
With, thankfully, a process now untainted by the uber-crony Obama Administration.
And in a process – that excludes Amazon from consideration.
Their uber-cronyism – has earned them their exclusion.
When it comes to $10 billion government contracts – and just about every other decision any one of us ever makes:
Oh-so-much better than:
“Measure once – cut again and again until we all bleed to death.”
This first appeared in Red State.