Explained: Why is the US govt reconsidering $10 billion JEDI contract?

Amazon, market leader in cloud computing technology, had argued it was not considered for the contract because of Donald Trump’s dislike of the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos.

Donald trump,Jeff Bezos, washington post, JEDI contract, US Department of Defense, US Department of Defense cloud computing contract, Microsoft, indian express, express explained

Over the years, Trump has publicly criticised Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, and The Washington Post, a publication that the latter owns. (Photo: AP)

Last week, the United States Department of Defense said it was reconsidering its awarding of the $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft, after rival tech giant Amazon slammed the bidding process.

Amazon, which is a market leader in cloud computing technology, had called the bidding process flawed, and made the argument that it was not considered for the contract because of US President Donald Trump’s dislike of the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, a news outlet that Trump has often criticised.

The JEDI Cloud project

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project is a major cloud computing contract at the US Department of Defence (DoD) that will allow the country’s military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield, with artificial intelligence being utilised to enhance fighting capabilities and war planning.

📢 Express Explained is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@ieexplained) and stay updated with the latest

According to the Department, the project is to be a “worldwide, highly available, exponentially elastic, secure, resilient cloud computing and storage environment that seamlessly extends from the homefront to the tactical edge” and which will “enable rapid development and deployment of new applications and advanced capabilities.”

The JEDI project will store vast amounts of classified data, and will be the DoD’s first war cloud.

The contract is worth $10 billion over 10 years, and will provide “enterprise level, commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) to support Department of Defense business and mission operations.”

Story continues below this ad

The JEDI project is seen as a shift in the DoD’s strategy of acquiring cloud services. Earlier, there was a decentralised approach, in which US defence agencies and the military would pursue cloud computing based on their individual needs. Now, the DoD is preferring large multi-year cloud computing contracts, reducing the total number of clouds it uses.

Also Read | Explained: How Google subsidiary Verily plans to help US fight COVID-19

Awarding of the contract

In October last year, the mammoth contract was awarded to Microsoft, despite Amazon being considered by many as the frontrunner to clinch the deal.

Amazon contested the decision, alleging that it lost out on the contract because of interference by President Trump. Over the years, Trump has publicly criticised Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, and The Washington Post, a publication that the latter owns.

Story continues below this ad

This week, US government lawyers said in a court filing that the DoD “wishes to reconsider its award decision”, seeking 120 days to reassess the same. The reconsideration, however, would be based on technical grounds such as pricing, and not on Amazon’s allegation that Trump unduly influenced the bidding process.

Don’t Miss from Explained | Coronavirus testing in India, elsewhere

According to an analyst who spoke to the Associated Press, one possible outcome could be that the Pentagon would end up splitting the award between Microsoft and Amazon, or with other vendors, thus helping the project get on track and out of the courts.