Pentagon issues forceful rebuke of Oracle as debate over a massive federal contract turns caustic

The Pentagon has issued an unusually strong rebuke of Oracle, accusing the company of employing “poorly-informed and often manipulative speculation” in its efforts to undermine the military’s process of awarding a massive 10-year contract for cloud computing technology.

The remarks were the latest flash point in the long-running dispute over the bidding process for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), a $10 billion contract that would be one of the federal government’s most expensive information technology procurements.