Pentagon cancels disputed JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft

The Pentagon said it has canceled a cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Tuesday it canceled a disputed cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion. It will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon and possibly other cloud service providers. “With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD’s capability gaps,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The statement did not directly mention that the Pentagon faced extended legal challenges by Amazon to the original $1 million contract awarded to Microsoft. Amazon argued that the Microsoft award was tainted by politics, particularly then-President Donald Trump's antagonism toward Amazon's chief executive officer, Jeff Bezos. Bezos owns The Washington Post, a news outlet often criticized by Trump. The Pentagon's chief information officer, John Sherman, told reporters Tuesday that during the lengthy legal fight with Amazon, “the landscape has evolved” with new possibilities for large-scale cloud computing services. Thus it was decided, he said, to start over and seek multiple vendors.