Pentagon to Reassess JEDI Cloud Contract for Microsoft

The Pentagon must reassess the JEDI Cloud contract. AWS has long objected to the award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to Microsoft.

Cloud architecture is vital to the United States Department of Defense. The Pentagon must now reassess where it stands with the JEDI project as pending lawsuits, including those brought by AWS over the contract award, continue to slow the military’s digital modernization.

A judge has ordered AWS, Microsoft and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to file a joint status report proposing further proceedings in the case by May 28.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud contract (JEDI) is to modernize the Pentagon in terms of technology thoroughly. But it is also a significant financial boost for those who are allowed to provide those cloud services. Initially, the Pentagon chose Microsoft, but competitor Amazon almost immediately contested that.

At the end of 2020, the Pentagon reported that it had reviewed the entire procedure but still opted for Microsoft. Earlier in February 2020, a judge ruled that the contract should be put on hold at Amazon’s request. That company continues to argue that President Donald Trump unlawfully influenced the contract.

“Reevaluation is nothing more than an attempt to validate a false, non-objective and politically corrupt decision,” Amazon said in response. It also notes that Amazon is tens of millions of dollars below Microsoft’s price. But U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper denied that the contract was awarded biased against Amazon.

Oracle previously lost its last appeal over the JEDI Cloud contract failure.