Pentagon Picks Microsoft for JEDI Cloud-Computing Contract Over Amazon
Pentagon Picks Microsoft for JEDI Cloud-Computing Contract Over Amazon by John D. McKinnon and Aaron Tilley – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon awarded Microsoft Corp. a hotly contested and controversial contract to build a large cloud-computing system for the U.S. military in a major setback to rival Amazon.com Inc., which was widely seen as the front-runner.
The so-called JEDI contract could be worth up to $10 billion to Microsoft over a 10-year period if the Pentagon exercises all options under the deal, the Defense Department said late Friday.
Amazon was the only other remaining bidder after several other firms were earlier eliminated from contention.
The process for developing and awarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract has been fraught, amid multiple conflict-of-interest allegations and legal challenges, as well as concerns that opting for a single-source vendor might not be best for the military…
