The Democratic National Committee had oversight over the development of Shadow Inc.'s botched Iowa caucuses app, according to Yahoo! News, which cited a contract and correspondence. The contract, signed on Oct. 14, reportedly read that Shadow Inc. “agrees to work with the DNC Services Corporation / Democratic National Committee (‘DNC’) on an on-going basis as Consultant develops the software.” The document also specified that the company would provide the DNC with “continual access to review the Consultant’s system configurations, security and system logs... security controls... and operational plans” for the software so the DNC could disseminate the information along with “registration, tabulation, and reporting throughout the caucus process.”

One email reportedly showed that the CEO of the DNC, Seema Nanda, and the DNC's Deputy Chief Technology Officer Kat Atwater were both involved in adding the contract provision that allowed the committee to have access to the app. In the email, Atwater says Nanda specifically requested the provision. DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said the DNC requested access “solely for the purpose of doing security testing.”

Yahoo! News also reports that Shadow Inc. has charged the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) $60,000 for its work thus far, and the IDP was first introduced to the company through the Nevada Democratic Party—which has since vowed not to use the app in their own caucuses after the tool caused a significant delay in results being released. Shadow Inc. has not spoken publicly on the matter.