GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (5/4–8)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers Amazon's latest JEDI protest, DoD's accelerated contractor payments, how COVID-19 is changing ransomware, FPDS in beta.SAM.gov delayed, and Justice's first PPP stimulus fraud charges.

Defense

• NextGov – Amazon Files Another Protest Over JEDI Contract

• ​"Amazon Web Services filed an agency protest with the Defense Department Monday seeking what the company said was clarification over ambiguous pricing requirements in the amended JEDI solicitation."

• FederalNewsNetwork – DoD to deliver $3B in accelerated contractor payments over coming weeks

• ​"Just over a month ago, the Pentagon told its contracting officers and contract administrators to boost the amount of money it pays vendors in the form of progress payments as one way to increase their cash flow amidst a sagging economy. And the dollars have indeed started flowing."

Cyber

• FCW – How COVID-19 is changing the game on ransomware

• ​"States, municipalities and critical infrastructure have borne the brunt of the ransomware, which historically has not been treated as a national security risk by federal policymakers until very recently."

GSA

• Federal Times – NIH partners with GSA’s modernization hub

• ​"The General Services Administration’s modernization hub announced a new partnership with the National Institutes of Health on May 4. GSA’s Centers of Excellence initiative, which partners with agencies across the government on modernization projects, is partnering with the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, or NICHD, to modernize IT operations at the agency."

• FedScoop – GSA extends procurement data reports transition due to coronavirus, feedback

• ​"The General Services Administration won’t require anyone to use the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) reports function within beta.SAM.gov until the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic."

Justice

• Justice.gov – Two Charged in Rhode Island with Stimulus Fraud

• ​"Two businessmen have been charged in the District of Rhode Island with allegedly filing bank loan applications fraudulently seeking more than a half-million dollars in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act."

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