Pentagon awards $9bn cloud contract to Google, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft

The Pentagon has announced it is awarding its cloud computing network contract to Google, Oracle, Amazon, and Microsoft, 

The wide-ranging contract will see its value total $9 billion over multiple stages until an estimated June 2028 completion date.

The four companies will play a part in the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) – which is set up to share unclassified, secret, and top-secret data with military personnel worldwide – in a move that sees a U-turn on the Trump Administration proposition that one company should be in charge of the project.

Pentagon cloud contract

Initially awarded to Microsoft in 2019, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) was later challenged by Amazon and Oracle, both of which make up part of the revised announcement. 

This was later cancelled owing to delays, according to the Pentagon, which meant that the contract no longer met the Department of Defense’s needs.

At this point, bids were opened up to all four of the winning companies in an effort to level the playing field, however the General Services Administration at that point indicated that only Amazon and Microsoft were able to meet the Pentagon’s requirements.

Fast-forward to December 2022, and Google, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft have been awarded arguably one of the most prestigious contracts that there is to have. Much like a job reference, having the backing of the US Department of Defense says a thousand words about each of the four companies with such sensitive and confidential data at stake. 

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Via AP News