The Pentagon said Tuesday it was scrapping a $10 billion cloud computing contract which sparked a heated dispute between Amazon and Microsoft.
A Defense Department statement said the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract would be canceled because it no longer meets current needs and that it would start a process for a “multi-cloud/multi-vendor” computing contract.
Microsoft won the massive contract, which sparked complaints and a formal challenge from Amazon, which claimed it was denied the deal due to political considerations.
“With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD’s capability gaps,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
A massive cloud computing contract for the US military was canceled amid a dispute between tech giants Microsoft and AmazonPhoto: AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND
The statement said the Pentagon would seek proposals “from a limited number of sources,” including Amazon and Microsoft, noting that available market research indicates that the two vendors are the only cloud service providers capable of meeting the department’s requirements, but would consider other firms as well.
The 10-year JEDI program was designed see all military branches sharing information in a cloud-based system boosted by artificial intelligence.
Amazon alleged it was shut out of the deal because of former president Donald Trump’s vendetta against the company and its chief executive Jeff Bezos.
