The US Department of Defense is shutting down a major cloud program that was run by Microsoft. It concerns a ten billion tender that the Pentagon made to Microsoft last year.
In a press release, the Pentagon announced that the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract, also known as JEDI, is being terminated. The ministry does want to set up a new cloud program that should replace JEDI. Both Microsoft and Amazon may submit new proposals for this.
The US Department of Defense contract went to Microsoft in 2020 after much discussion. Both Microsoft and Amazon were in the running for the $10 billion contract. In the end, the tender went to Microsoft.
In the press release, the Ministry of Defense writes that it wants to look at a new ‘multi-vendor’ contract. The Pentagon does believe that only Amazon and Microsoft currently have the capacity to meet the Department’s requirements.