Federal government has paid tech contractor $6.1M to create database for Jan. 6 evidence

The federal government had paid a tech contractor $6.1 million to create a database containing evidence from the January 6 Capitol riot. 

A court filing from Thursday seen by Politico showed the Justice Department has paid Deloitte Financial Advisory Services to organize the videos, photos, emails and other evidence from the Capitol riot.

“Following the Capitol Breach, the United States recognized that due to the nature and volume of materials being collected, the government would require the use of an outside contractor who could provide litigation technology support services to include highly technical and specialized data and document processing and review capabilities,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nadia Moore and William Dreher said in the court filing. 

Contracting data seen by the outlet says the government could end up paying the litigation technology company up to $26 million for their efforts. 

Prosecutors say the database is needed since they are obligated to give defendants all relevant evidence pertaining to their case, which includes access to all evidence from the riot.

“The government is working to provide an unprecedented amount of materials in the most comprehensive and usable format to defense counsel,” Moore and Dreher said.

The contract between the company and government began on June 1 as Deloitte is expected to provide “automated litigation support services” to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., according to Politico.

The lack of a database is slowing down work on cases involving more than  500 alleged Capitol rioters who are facing prosecution.

The government has said the Capitol riot is the largest criminal probe in the country’s history with alleged rioters being charged with various crimes including crimes against police officers and journalists. 

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department and Deloitte for comment.