The US Department of Defense is submitting bids for the JEDI project in the billions again

The US Department of Defense has completed a $10 billion JEDI cloud computing project. The Pentagon decided to reintroduce the contract, with the work divided among several parties. According to the ministry, the new bid is the so-called multi-vendor project.

According to the Pentagon, only Microsoft and Amazon are currently able to meet the Pentagon’s requirements. This is why only those companies can now compete for the contract. The other parties have not yet proven themselves. The deal is not allocated to Microsoft and Amazon automatically. Companies will have to submit proposals on how to meet the government’s requirements, it seems.

The lucrative contract was awarded to Microsoft by the previous government. This dismayed rival Amazon, which objected to the decision. According to Amazon, political games formed the basis of the Trump administration’s decision to partner with Microsoft.

It is known that former US President Donald Trump is not a fan of then-Amazon President Jeff Bezos. Trump had previously publicly ridiculed Amazon’s bid for the contract and delayed awarding the contract. Trump has also regularly criticized Amazon.

For those in the know, Amazon’s bid for a JEDI contract, which includes subjecting the Pentagon to a digital update, has been particularly promising. Especially since Amazon Web Services already provides classified servers for the CIA.

Microsoft said in response that it understood and respected the decision to drop the contract because the Department of Defense would face a long battle in court. “The security of the United States is more important than any contract,” the company said. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The future of JEDI’s cloud software was called into question earlier this year. Defense officials previously said they would tear up the contract if Trump’s political interference turned out to be the reason Amazon failed in the first place.