US Department of Defense cancels ‘JEDI’ contract awarded to Microsoft under Donald Trump

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The U.S. Department of Defense has canceled a cloud computing contract awarded to Microsoft, which is somewhat controversial, under the Trump administration (thanks, CNN). Yeah, I haven’t thought about that person in five months either, sorry.

The controversy is because, basically, people who know what they’re talking about felt like it should have gone to Amazon. The contract is for a super-secure cloud storage system for America’s military data and technology, worth up to $ 10 billion over 10 years, and Amazon Web Services is widely considered the best option in cloud computing industry.

Get it: it’s named the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, just like it is the JEDI contract. It’s good to know that we have adults running into these things, even though I think it fits the Space Force.

Amazon calculated that this contract was awarded to Microsoft because Donald Trump did not like Amazon executive chairman and then CEO Jeff Bezos (or The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos). Trump said he would review “a strong look” at the contract before it was awarded to Microsoft, and there was no shortage of other public comments from him that embarrassed Amazon and Bezos.

(Image credit: Whitehouse.gov)

Amazon, therefore, challenged the decision in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on this basis, accusing the former U.S. president of “repeated attacks on the public and behind the scenes” against the company and asking him to testify about on how the contract was awarded.

I love this a bit from Amazon’s court filing in February 2020: “President Trump reiterated his willingness to use his position as President and Chief of Staff to interfere with government functions-including federal acquisitions-to advance his personal agenda.Maintaining public confidence in the country’s acquisition process requires the discovery and addition of an administrative record, specifically in line with President Trump’s mandate that ‘screw Amazon.’ The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the DoD budget to pursue his own personal and political ends. “

In March 2020, the DoD said it would review the decision again.

Clearly, the re -examination showed that this was not the cloud computing contract they were looking for. In a press release the DoD said it decided to cancel the contract due to “evolving requirements, increased cloud conservancy and industry advances” and that JEDI “no longer meets its requirements.”

(Image credit: The Smithsonian via Flickr)

Microsoft responded in a blog post welcoming the decision, defending its technology, saying doing it again is better than spending years in court, and getting some pot-shots at Amazon (“Our focus to our customer, and not the politics or the litigation, the basis of our strategy to help governments and businesses achieve their mission outcomes. “)

The response also included this incredible line: “The 20 months since the DoD selected Microsoft as a partner in JEDI highlights issues that are of concern to policy makers.”

For its part, Amazon said it agrees with the decision, and reiterated the company’s position that the contract was originally awarded as a “result of outside influence with no place in government procurement.” Don’t mess with Jeff.

DoD will now seek proposals from Microsoft, Amazon and other cloud providers that can “meet DoD requirements.”

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