DoD Is Auditing the Process that Won Tanium Government Contracts

The Pentagon’s watchdog is reviewing the process that won cybersecurity startup Tanium hundreds of millions in federal contracts.

According to a Defense Department document, the Inspector General began an audit last month involving the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx). The audit is being performed in response to an allegation made via the department’s hotline over whether the Air Force and DIUx followed proper processes and procedures governing contract awards to Tanium, according to the same document.

“We are not involved in the audit, since it is an internal government audit that is reviewing procurement processes rather than vendor actions,” the Emeryville, California-based company said in a statement. “That said, we are confident that Tanium's portion of all transactions have been conducted appropriately.” A spokeswoman for the Department of Defense declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the department’s Inspector General also declined to comment on the audit other than to say it is ongoing. The department hotline received 7,106 contacts and opened 4,182 cases for the six month period ending Sept. 30, 2017, according to Defense Department documents. It closed 4,056 cases during that same period, although it is unclear how long those cases had been under review or what the outcomes were.