Pentagon aerial shot

Following Court Decision, Amazon and Microsoft Set to Compete Over Military’s Cloud Computing Contract

The $10 billion JEDI project has been rife with controversy, but the Pentagon still hopes to seal the deal with either company next month.

  • By Haley Samsel
  • Jul 15, 2019

A federal court ruling on Friday cleared the path for Amazon and Microsoft to battle for a massive contract to build the Department of Defense’s first-ever “war cloud” computing system.

Oracle, which had originally bid on the $10 billion contract, was eliminated from contention by the Pentagon after officials said only Amazon and Microsoft had the capacity to carry out the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure plan, known as JEDI. The company went on to accuse the military of giving unfair preference to Amazon through arbitrary requirements for the contract and conflicts of interest involving former department employees, the Federal News Network reported.

On Friday, a judge ruled in favor of the military, arguing that its criteria for the contract was “enforceable” and dismissing Oracle’s allegations that department employees’ ties to Amazon influenced the process, according to a filing published by Federal News Network.

JEDI is meant to replace the military’s current clunky information systems with a cloud that will “empower the warfighter with data and is critical to maintaining our military’s technological advantage,” the Department of Defense wrote in a recent strategy document.

The Pentagon is expected to award the contract as soon as next month despite facing backlash from senators and cybersecurity experts about the contract process. Those same critics, which included former bidder IBM, have also complained about the military’s decision to hire a single cloud provider when large organizations usually hire multiple companies to do the job.

“This type of fiscal and time commitment should demand a procurement steeped in competition and conducted without bias toward any one vendor,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) wrote in a July 11 letter to National Security Advisor John Bolton urging him to delay awarding the contract. “However, DoD has used arbitrary criteria and standards for bidders.”

Rubio added: “And in the end, DoD plans to award this massive contract to a single vendor, even though multiple vendors would ensure continuing price competition and access to the latest innovations.”

Rubio was not alone in his request to delay the contract. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) also asked for the Pentagon to hold off due to multiple inquiries into potential ethics violations during the contract process, the Federal News Network reported.

“If the investigation [by the inspector general] confirms the allegations of impropriety after the contract has already been awarded, it could significantly erode public trust in the fairness of the government procurement process and, if appropriate, may be very difficult to unwind a project that is already underway,” Johnson wrote.

It was not immediately clear whether Oracle would appeal the decision and take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals. If the company accepts the ruling, it’s likely the competition between Amazon and Microsoft will come to a close in August. While Amazon Web Services seemed like the clear frontrunner just a year ago, the contract “now seems just as likely to go to Microsoft,” which has been steadily improving its Azure cloud platform, the Associated Press reported.

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • The Future is Happening Outside the Cloud

    For years, the cloud has captivated the physical security industry. And for good reason. Remote access, elastic scalability and simplified maintenance reshaped how we think about deploying and managing systems. But as the number of cameras grows and resolutions push from HD to 4K and beyond, the cloud’s limits are becoming unavoidable. Bandwidth bottlenecks. Latency lags. Rising storage costs. These are not abstract concerns. Read Now

  • The Impact of Convergence Between IT and Physical Security

    For years, the worlds of physical security and information technology (IT) remained separate. While they shared common goals and interests, they often worked in silos. Read Now

  • Unlocking Trustworthy AI: Building Transparency in Security Governance

    In situations where AI supports important security tasks like leading investigations and detecting threats and anomalies, transparency is essential. When an incident occurs, investigators must trace the logic behind each automated response to confirm its validity or spot errors. Demanding interpretable AI turns opaque “black boxes” into accountable partners that enhance, rather than compromise, organizational defense. Read Now

  • Seeking Innovative Solutions

    Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. You may recognize these terms as the “5 Phases” of a grieving process, but they could easily describe the phases one goes through before adopting any new or emerging innovation or technology, especially in a highly risk-averse industry like security. However, the desire for convenience in all aspects of modern life is finally beginning to turn the tide from old school hardware as the go-to towards more user-friendly, yet still secure, door solutions. Read Now

  • Where AI Meets Human Judgment

    Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days. It is driving business growth, shaping consumer experiences, and showing up in places most of us never imagined just a few years ago. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.