US Department of Defense cancels $10 billion contract with Microsoft

The US Department of Defense recently officially canceled the $10 billion cloud computing contract signed with Microsoft under the previous administration of US President Donald Trump. At that time Microsoft was chosen instead of Amazon.

According to CNN, on Tuesday, the US Department of Defense announced it had stopped implementing the defense infrastructure development contract (JEDI) previously signed with Microsoft. Instead, the Department of Defense will seek options from both Microsoft and Amazon’s project proposals.

If, under the previous agreement, Microsoft would build a computer storage system for military data and sensitive technology such as artificial intelligence for the US Department of Defense, Microsoft would be able to collect up to $ 10 billion in revenue. within 10 years.

In 2019, Microsoft won over Amazon and won this $10 billion contract, but that win caused a lot of controversy because from many people’s point of view, Amazon can be considered a better candidate for that project. . Amazon’s Cloud Computing Service (AWS) is often regarded as the market leader in the cloud computing industry.

Amazon filed a lawsuit in the US Federal Court with the view that Amazon lost due to political motives, that then US President Donald Trump did not like Amazon CEO – Jeff Bezos as well as the Washington Post owned by the company. owned by Mr. Bezos.

In March 2020, the US Department of Defense said that it may review the decision to award the $ 10 billion contract to Microsoft. Now, the US Department of Defense has officially announced that it will cancel that contract and choose a new contract with the participation of both Microsoft and Amazon.

According to the latest explanation from the US Department of Defense, this agency decided to cancel the contract because the requirements of the project were different now and it needed to keep up with new advancements in the industry, so a new project was needed. meet the changing needs.

The US Department of Defense confirmed that it will consider proposals from both Microsoft and Amazon’s AWS, and also accepts applications from many other cloud service providers that meet its requirements.

In a corporate blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft said it approved of the Department of Defense’s position in canceling the contract and defended its view that its technology was the best fit for the department’s requirements.

“The U.S. Department of Defense faces a difficult choice: Continue with what’s been going on for years or find a new direction. America’s security is more important than any single contract, and we believe Microsoft will. good when America is good,” the post emphasized.