Pentagon Wants to Reconsider $10B JEDI Contract Awarded to Microsoft

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is "seeking court permission" to reconsider and re-evaluate parts of the $10 billion cloud computing contract it signed with Microsoft last year.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract was awarded to Microsoft following an evaluation of proposals from a number of different companies, including Amazon, Oracle, and IBM (Google pulled out).

Amazon challenged the DOD's decision to select Microsoft, claiming "unmistakable bias" and influence from President Trump.

As Reuters reports, last week Amazon succeeded in obtaining a temporary halt on the deal from a US judge.

This week, the DOD decided to reconsider parts of the contract with Microsoft and re-evalute "bidders' price proposals and online marketplaces."

As you'd expect, Amazon welcomed the decision, with a spokesman stating, "We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged 'substantial and legitimate' issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary."

Microsoft, of course, says it believes the Department of Defense made the correct decision in awarding it the contract.

"However, we support their decision to reconsider a small number of factors as it is likely the fastest way to resolve all issues and quickly provide the needed modern technology to people across our armed forces," says Frank Shaw, corporate vice president at Microsoft.

"Throughout this process, we’ve focused on listening to the needs of the DoD, delivering the best product, and making sure nothing we did delayed the procurement process.

We are not going to change this approach now," Shaw says.

"Over two years the DoD reviewed dozens of factors and sub factors and found Microsoft equal or superior to AWS on every factor.

We remain confident that Microsoft’s proposal was technologically superior, continues to offer the best value, and is the right choice for the DoD.”

As only parts of the contract are being looked at, it seems likely Microsoft will continue to be the DoD's partner for JEDI, but possibly with a few tweaks here and there to costs and deliverables.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is "seeking court permission" to reconsider and re-evaluate parts of the $10 billion cloud computing contract it signed with Microsoft last year.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract was awarded to Microsoft following an evaluation of proposals from a number of different companies, including Amazon, Oracle, and IBM (Google pulled out).

Amazon challenged the DOD's decision to select Microsoft, claiming "unmistakable bias" and influence from President Trump.

As Reuters reports, last week Amazon succeeded in obtaining a temporary halt on the deal from a US judge.

This week, the DOD decided to reconsider parts of the contract with Microsoft and re-evalute "bidders' price proposals and online marketplaces."

As you'd expect, Amazon welcomed the decision, with a spokesman stating, "We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged 'substantial and legitimate' issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary."

Microsoft, of course, says it believes the Department of Defense made the correct decision in awarding it the contract.

"However, we support their decision to reconsider a small number of factors as it is likely the fastest way to resolve all issues and quickly provide the needed modern technology to people across our armed forces," says Frank Shaw, corporate vice president at Microsoft.

"Throughout this process, we’ve focused on listening to the needs of the DoD, delivering the best product, and making sure nothing we did delayed the procurement process.

We are not going to change this approach now," Shaw says.

"Over two years the DoD reviewed dozens of factors and sub factors and found Microsoft equal or superior to AWS on every factor.

We remain confident that Microsoft’s proposal was technologically superior, continues to offer the best value, and is the right choice for the DoD.”

As only parts of the contract are being looked at, it seems likely Microsoft will continue to be the DoD's partner for JEDI, but possibly with a few tweaks here and there to costs and deliverables.