Defense Dept. cancels $10 billion JEDI cloud contract given to Microsoft

The Defense Department on Tuesday canceled a $10 billion cloud computing contract that's been the subject of ongoing legal battles, saying it "no longer meets" requirements.

A Pentagon representative told reporters that instead, the department will be soliciting new proposals from cloud service providers.

"Today, the Department of Defense canceled the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud solicitation and initiated contract termination procedures," a news release said, citing "evolving requirements, increased cloud conservancy and industry advances."

The Defense Department awarded the JEDI contract to Microsoft in October 2019, securing its cloud computing services for the next decade. But Amazon, which also bid the contract, challenged the move, saying former President Donald Trump improperly interfered in the process in Microsoft's favor.

A federal judge ordered a halt to work on the project amid the legal battle.

The contract was meant to create a large, centralized, secure network for the military and upgrade its computer technology, which in some cases dates back to the 1980s and '90s.

"JEDI was developed at a time when the department's needs were different and both the [cloud service providers] technology and our cloud conversancy was less mature," said John Sherman, acting Defense Department chief information officer.

"In light of new initiatives like [Joint All Domain Command and Control] and [artificial intelligence] and Data Acceleration (ADA), the evolution of the cloud ecosystem within DoD, and changes in user requirements to leverage multiple cloud environments to execute mission, our landscape has advanced and a new way-ahead is warranted to achieve dominance in both traditional and non-traditional warfighting domains."

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