Defense Digital Service chief will remain at DOD amid cloud shift

By Tony Bertuca / April 3, 2018 at 11:53 AM

The head of the Defense Digital Service will remain at his post for the foreseeable future as the Pentagon attempts a controversial transition to a new, commercial cloud computing system.

"Joining @usds and founding @defensedigital has been one of the most incredible moments of my life. I get to work with the most amazing team," Chris Lynch tweeted April 2. "We get to do important work on a mission that matters. I’ve been asked numerous times: I have extended my term at DOD and DDS. Onward!"

Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who established the Defense Digital Service in November 2015, often drew attention to Lynch during speeches about technology and innovation, remarking that Lynch and his team wore hoodies and sneakers around the Pentagon.

Lynch is also known for standing up DOD's "Hack the Pentagon" bug bounty program.

More recently, Lynch's team began leading the development of the acquisition strategy for its new cloud environment -- the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program.

The Pentagon released a draft request for proposals in March, with a second draft expected this month. The final RFP will be released in May.

Though the Pentagon is stressing that its enterprise cloud initiative is a full and open competition with the single award contract planned with multiple off ramps, many contractors are worried that Amazon Web Services has an inside track on a deal that could lock the Defense Department into a single provider.

Meanwhile, Congress has asked DOD to justify its choice to go with a single contract award.

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