FCW Insider: Oct. 28

The Department of Defense awarded its $10 billion JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft, after a process that included protests, a lawsuit, an inspector general probe, multiple legislative letters, comments from President Trump and a defense secretary review. Amazon Web Services was widely viewed as a frontrunner in the procurement in large part because if its classified work for the intelligence community. Adam Mazmanian has more.

More than 30 lawmakers signed an Oct. 24 letter urging House and Senate appropriators to block funds to relocate two Department of Agriculture agencies out of Washington, D.C. to the Kansas City region. Lia Russell reports.

A government-backed school for cyber modeled on West Point or the Naval Academy could provide military and civilian agencies sorely needed operators. Gregory Conti, Senior Security Strategist at IronNet and a West Point graduate makes the case in this FCW commentary.

Quick Hits

*** The Department of Veterans Affairs new whistleblower protection office "acted in ways that were inconsistent with its statutory authority while it simultaneously floundered in its mission to protect whistleblowers" according to a scathing report from the VA's Office of Inspector General.

*** Facebook and Google are establishing teams to combat online misinformation related to the Census, according to an Associated Press report.

*** The Office of Personnel Management alerted agencies last week that telework data for fiscal year 2019 required under the law would be due to the agency by Dec. 13.