The US Department of Defense (DoD) canceled the disputed $10 billion JEDI Cloud contract with
and initiated contract termination procedures.
The JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) Cloud contract named
as the provider of cloud services for the Pentagon. The deal was signed in 2019 and should have lasted for ten years.Back in January, the Pentagon warned Congress that it might walk away from the JEDI cloud contract if a federal court agrees to go over it. Essentially, the goal was to consider whether former President Donald J. Trump interfered in awarding the $10 billion contract to Microsoft over its tech rival . Furthermore, they said the question would result in lengthy litigation and untenable delays.
Soon after the Biden administration took office, it began a review. In turn, they concluded the costly arguments over JEDI had been so long that the system would be outdated as soon as it was deployed, says a senior administration official.
This Thursday, the DoD stated that it would not go forward with the lucrative cloud-computing contract, as it has become the subject of a contentious legal battle amid claims of interference by the Trump administration.
John Sherman, who serves the role of a Chief Information Officer at DoD, had this to say:
JEDI was developed at a time when the Department’s needs were different, and both the CSPs technology and our cloud conversancy was less mature. In light of new initiatives like JADC2 and AI and Data Acceleration (ADA), the evolution of the cloud ecosystem within DoD, and changes in user requirements to leverage multiple cloud environments to execute mission, our landscape has advanced and a new way-ahead is warranted to achieve dominance in both traditional and non-traditional warfighting domains.
The Pentagon proposed a new cloud architecture, the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability. Unlike the JEDI, it will split the technology work, not award one large contract to a single provider.
DOD cancels $10B JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft, says tech already outdated https://t.co/NKtEVtAc8U by @tdechant
— Ars Technica (@arstechnica) July 6, 2021
According to market research, only and (AWS) have the needed qualities to meet Pentagon’s standards. In other words, only these two companies can bid for the new contract.
However, DoD will not automatically assign these roles, as stated in the Pre-Solicitation Notice. Instead, other companies will get the chance to demonstrate their worth.
In turn, and will need to submit new plans covering how they intend to satisfy the Pentagon’s criteria.
Toni Townes-Whitley, who serves the role of a President, US Regulated Industries, at Microsoft, had this to say:
The DoD faced a difficult choice: Continue with what could be a yearslong litigation battle or find another path forward. We stand ready to support the DoD as they work through their next steps and its new cloud computing solicitation plans.
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