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Tag: Jedi

  • US Air Force Moving Ahead With Its Own Cloud Platform, Not Waiting for DOD

    US Air Force Moving Ahead With Its Own Cloud Platform, Not Waiting for DOD

    The US Air Force is moving ahead with its cloud plans rather than waiting on the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract.

    JWCC is the successor to the doomed $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract that was initially awarded to Microsoft. AWS challenged the award and kept it tied up in court for so long that the DOD ultimately abandoned it in favor of the multi-vendor JWCC. The DOD is currently seeking bids from AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle.

    The Air Force has decided it doesn’t want to wait for the DOD and risk another delay. The military branch is instead moving forward with its own Cloud One endeavor.

    “The short story is we’re not waiting, we haven’t waited, we will continue to not wait for anybody else to come and provide us with capability,” Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger told FedScoop. “We’re moving forward, we’re moving out, we’re continuing to improve” Cloud One, she added.

    Knausenberger went on to call Cloud One the “world’s largest cloud instantiation for any commercial or government entity.”

    The Air Force tapped SAIC to implement its own multicloud approach, using AWS, Google, and Microsoft’s cloud platforms. While the DOD is continuing to pursue the $9 billion JWCC contract, Knausenberger doesn’t see a conflict with Cloud One. In fact, if JWCC becomes a reality, she believes it may offer “better pricing on compute” and ultimately complement Cloud One.

    “And if it does, we’ll still use our Cloud One as a front door and we will purchase that compute via JWCC,” she added.

  • Pentagon Pushes Cloud Contract Award to December

    Pentagon Pushes Cloud Contract Award to December

    The Pentagon has pushed back the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract award to December, adding to the saga of its cloud transition.

    The Pentagon initially awarded the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft, surprising industry experts who saw AWS as the front-runner. AWS immediately sued and tied up the contract award in court so long that the Pentagon finally canceled it and started over, replacing JEDI with JWCC.

    According to Reuters, the process to award a new contract is taking longer than expected, with the time-frame for an award pushed back to December, instead of April.

    “This is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,” Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman said.

    The same major players are being considered, including Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, and Google. Unlike JEDI, which was awarded to a single company, JWCC will likely be awarded to multiple companies, possibly all four. With a total of roughly $9 billion on the line, even a four-way split would still be a substantial contract for the cloud providers.

  • Google Once Again Pursuing Pentagon Contracts

    Google Once Again Pursuing Pentagon Contracts

    Google is once again pursuing Pentagon contracts after employee activism put the brakes on its last attempt.

    Google famously stopped pursing a Pentagon AI contract three years ago when employees raised a furor. Despite the company’s past setbacks, The New York Times reports that Google is once again looking to do business with the Pentagon, trying to get in on the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract.

    The JWCC contract is the Pentagon’s replacement for it’s ill-fated JEDI contract. The DoD surprised the industry by initially awarded Microsoft the JEDI contract, despite Amazon being considered as the front-runner. Amazon challenged Microsoft’s win and tied it up in court long enough for the Pentagon to abandon JEDI and completely rework its requirements, leading to the JWCC.

    The Times is reporting that Google is making a play for the JWCC, a move that could help the number three cloud provider make major headway in the industry.

  • NASA: Blue Origin ‘Gambled’ On Its Proposal and Lost

    NASA: Blue Origin ‘Gambled’ On Its Proposal and Lost

    More details are emerging about Blue Origin’s losing bid for NASA’s lunar lander, and it appears the company made a risky gamble that backfired.

    Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin were two of the companies bidding for a contract to provide NASA’s new lunar lander. SpaceX ultimately won the contract, coming in substantially cheaper than Blue Origin’s bid. Blue Origin appealed NASA’s decision to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), and then sued the government when the GAO upheld NASA’s decision.

    More details have emerged, and it appears Blue Origin shot for the moon (pun intended), basing their bid on the belief that NASA would accept the higher bid and then negotiate a lower price after the fact.

    The company “made an assumption about the Agency’s HLS budget, built its proposal with this figure in mind, and also separately made a calculated bet that if NASA could not afford Blue Origin’s initially-proposed price, the Agency would select Blue Origin for award and engage in post-selection negotiations to allow Blue Origin to lower its price. All of these assumptions were incorrect,” the four NASA attorneys wrote in the Agency Report, according to The Verge. “Realizing now that it gambled and lost, Blue Origin seeks to use GAO’s procurement oversight function to improperly compel NASA to suffer the consequences of Blue Origin’s ill-conceived choices.”

    Because that’s totally how bidding usually works: Accept an overpriced bid, that didn’t score as high as the competitor’s, and then negotiate with the winning bidder in the hopes they’ll offer a lower price after they’ve already won. Or at least that appears to be how Blue Origin thinks bidding should work.

    This isn’t the first time one of Jeff Bezos’ companies has overbid, lost a contract and they cried foul. Microsoft accused Amazon of doing the same thing when it sued after losing out on the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, saying Amazon used the litigation process to see the particulars of Microsoft’s sealed bid and then lowered its own to be more competitive.

    Interestingly, Bezos’ companies seem to be aware of the reputation they’re building — as sore losers that resort to litigation to compensate for overpriced bids — as Amazon “sent The Verge an unsolicited 13-page list” of legal actions it says SpaceX has taken over the years, in what appears to be an effort to prove it’s no more litigious than the next company.

    Ultimately, NASA said it best: “Blue Origin made a bet and it lost.”

  • Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    ‘Don’t beat a dead horse’ doesn’t seem to be a phrase Oracle is familiar with, as the company continues to pursue its JEDI contract case.

    The Pentagon’s JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) was designed to help the Department of Defense (DoD) modernize its infrastructure using commercial cloud providers. AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle were the top vendors vying for the project.

    Early on, IBM and Oracle were both eliminated. Despite AWS being the favorite, the DoD ultimately awarded the contract to Microsoft. AWS immediately sued, claiming Microsoft was awarded the contract unfairly. After a protracted legal battle, with no end in sight, the DoD ultimately withdrew Microsoft’s win and abandoned the contract.

    Despite that eventuality, and despite Oracle’s early elimination for not meeting the requirements, the company seems intent on continuing its challenge to the DoD’s initial ruling.

    Law Street Media reports that Oracle is claiming the DoD’s alleged misconduct doesn’t just end because the contract was cancelled, and could reasonably be expected to occur again with future contracts.

    Ironically, one of Oracle’s main contentions with the initial contract terms was the DoD awarding the JEDI contract to a single vendor instead of adopting a multi-vendor approach. When the DoD abandoned JEDI, it switched gears and said it will tap multiple vendors for its next attempt, the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. In spite of the DoD changing its approach, Oracle is still not satisfied.

    “Cases do not become moot simply because a defendant issues a press release claiming to have ceased its misconduct,” Oracle claims in a court filing.

    Again…dead horse.

  • What’s Good for the Goose: Microsoft Challenges AWS NSA Contract

    What’s Good for the Goose: Microsoft Challenges AWS NSA Contract

    Microsoft is turning the tables on AWS, challenging a $10 billion contract award from the National Security Agency (NSA).

    Microsoft won the $10 billion JEDI contract from the Pentagon in October 2019, beating out AWS in the process. AWS immediately filed a lawsuit, winning an injunction against Microsoft moving forward with deployment. The legal challenge drug out for so long that the Pentagon was forced to abandon the project in the interests of not falling further behind in their efforts to modernize their systems.

    AWS has won a $10 billion contract with the NSA, and Microsoft is launching a legal challenge of its own, according to Nextgov. The project, codenamed “WildandStormy,” appears to be aimed at modernizing the agency’s classified data repository.

    When Nextgov reached to AWS, they referred questions to the NSA and the NSA provided the following statement:

    “NSA recently awarded a contract for cloud computing services to support the Agency. The unsuccessful offeror has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The Agency will respond to the protest in accordance with appropriate federal regulations.” 

    Microsoft also confirmed the situation in a statement to Nextgov:

    “Based on the decision we are filing an administrative protest via the Government Accountability Office. We are exercising our legal rights and will do so carefully and responsibly,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

    Microsoft is in challenging situation. On the one hand, while they obviously see some merit to challenging the decision, the company was vocal in criticizing AWS for allegedly abusing the system when it fought Microsoft’s win. Microsoft said AWS was using the legal discovery process to learn what it had bid — in what should have been a closed-bid process — and then lower its own bid to undercut.

    Microsoft will no doubt want to be careful not to give the appearance of doing the very thing it accused AWS of.

  • Pentagon Cancels JEDI Contract, Will Pursue Multi-Vendor Approach

    Pentagon Cancels JEDI Contract, Will Pursue Multi-Vendor Approach

    The Department of Defense (DoD) has canceled its JEDI contract with Microsoft, and will instead pursue a multi-vendor approach.

    Microsoft pulled off a major upset when it won the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to help the Pentagon modernize its operations and migrate to the cloud. AWS was considered to be the frontrunner for the contract, and the company did not take the loss lying down. Instead, AWS launched a protracted legal fight in an effort to overturn Microsoft’s win. Microsoft, for its part, accused AWS of using its legal efforts to gain access to Microsoft’s bid and lower its own to match, effectively circumventing the blind bidding process.

    The DoD has been signaling for some time that it may be forced to abandon the contract and start over, as AWS has been able to prevent Microsoft from starting deployment. This has left the Pentagon in a difficult position, as it still needs to move forward, but has been unable to do so.

    The DoD has now canceled the contract, saying JEDI “no longer meets its needs.”

    “JEDI was developed at a time when the Department’s needs were different and both the CSPs technology and our cloud conversancy was less mature. In light of new initiatives like JADC2 and AI 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,” said John Sherman, acting DoD Chief Information Officer.

    The DoD will now pursue Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC), a multi-cloud/multi-vendor approach that will initially involve both AWS and Microsoft. In time, however, other vendors may also be invited.

    AWS seems to have proven that if you can’t win a contract, simply litigate until you’re given another chance.

  • DOD Appears Ready to Fight Long-Term for JEDI Contract

    DOD Appears Ready to Fight Long-Term for JEDI Contract

    The Department of Defense has filed court documents indicating it is prepared to continuing fighting for its JEDI contract decision.

    The industry was rocked when the DOD announced Microsoft as the winner of its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, worth some $10 billion. AWS was considered the favorite for the contract, but lost out to Microsoft’s bid. The company then launched a lawsuit and was granted a temporary injunction.

    in the meantime, Microsoft has claimed that AWS has unfairly used the litigation process to uncover the details of Microsoft’s bid and then altered its own to be competitive. Despite the DOJ and DODinvestigation both concluding Microsoft’s win was just, Amazon has continued to litigate. The DOD has even warned it may have to abandon the JEDI contract, simply to move forward with migrating critical systems to the cloud, a process which the litigation has delayed for roughly a year and a half.

    Despite such warnings, it appears the DOD isn’t quite ready to end its fight, as it has filed new paperwork in the case, an acknowledgement that the case could extend “into late October at the earliest,” according to GovConWire.

    In the meantime, the Pentagon is still signaling it must move forward as soon as possible.

    “The filing merely reflects the proposed schedule for further proceedings in the case,” Russell Goemaere, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement. “Nothing about this procedural filing changes our previous statements regarding our commitment to establish an enterprise cloud capability for the department — we hope through JEDI — but the DoD’s requirements transcend any one procurement.”

  • Pentagon Weighs Cancelling JEDI Contract

    Pentagon Weighs Cancelling JEDI Contract

    The Pentagon is weighing abandoning the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract amid ongoing legal challenges from Amazon.

    Microsoft shocked the industry when it beat out Amazon for a coveted contract to provide cloud services to the Department of Defense (DOD). Amazon was widely considered the favorite, especially when factoring in its long history of working on sensitive government projects.

    Amazon immediately took the matter to court, and has effectivelykept the Pentagon from being able to move forward for a year and a half. Given the Pentagon’s need to move to a cloud-based solution, further legal fighting may simply not be a viable option. In February, the DOD warned Congress it may have to reevaluate the contract if Amazon’s legal challenges persisted.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, the time for that reevaluation may be now. A judge refused to dismiss much of Amazon’s case, guaranteeing the legal fight is far from over. With that prospect, the DOD is signaling it may change direction.

    “We’re going to have to assess where we are with regard to the ongoing litigation around JEDI and determine what the best path forward is for the department,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.

    Throughout the process, Microsoft has maintained it won the bid based on its competitive solution, and that Amazon abused the process to get details on Microsoft’s bid and make adjustments accordingly. If the Pentagon goes for a mulligan, Microsoft may have the chance to prove just how competitive it claims to be.

  • Pentagon May Cancel JEDI Contract With Microsoft

    Pentagon May Cancel JEDI Contract With Microsoft

    The Pentagon has warned it may be forced to cancel its $10 billion JEDI contract with Microsoft amid Amazon’s ongoing legal challenges.

    Microsoft stunned the industry when it won the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, worth $10 billion. Amazon immediately sued, claiming a number of issues, including irregularities in the Pentagon’s review process and undue interference from the Trump administration.

    The Pentagon corrected its review process, coming to the same conclusion that Microsoft rightfully won the contract. Not content, Amazon renewed its complaints, claiming the Pentagon’s second review process was more flawed than the original. Amazon also maintained the second review showed it was cheaper by tens of millions of dollars.

    Meanwhile, Microsoft has maintained that Amazon used the review process to improperly gain access to what Microsoft bid, and then lower its own bid to undercut — illustrating why these type of contracts are supposed to be a blind bidding process, to make sure each company bids fairly.

    After refusing to accept its loss and move on, it appears Amazon’s legal tactics may finally be paying off. According to Business Insider, the Pentagon has sent a memo to Congress warning they may have to cancel Microsoft’s JEDI win if Amazon’s legal challenges persist. At this point, the Pentagon is still without much-needed cloud capabilities, seen as important to national security.

    The Pentagon is quickly arriving at the point where it may be faster to cancel the contract and start over, in hopes of finally having an up-and-running cloud solution. It’s also possible the Pentagon may go with a multi-cloud approach, rather than awarding it to single company.

  • AWS Continues to Challenge Pentagon on Microsoft’s JEDI Win

    AWS Continues to Challenge Pentagon on Microsoft’s JEDI Win

    “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again” appears to be the motto at AWS, as it continues to challenge Microsoft’s JEDI win.

    The Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract is a coveted opportunity that drew bids from the leading cloud providers. AWS was considered the front-runner, leading to quite a surprise when Microsoft was awarded the contract.

    Almost immediately, AWS sued, claiming improprieties in the bid review process, as well as alleging improper interference from the Trump administration. A court initially put the project on hold until an investigation could look into the matter.

    The court also said that AWS was likely to succeed in its efforts, based on the first of six issues AWS raised with the Pentagon’s review process. The Pentagon corrected its review process, and once again came to the conclusion that Microsoft offered the better deal.

    AWS is now claiming that the Pentagon made even greater errors in its second evaluation, ignoring the fact that AWS is now the cheaper option:

    “As a result of the DoD fixing just one of many errors, the pricing differential swung substantially, with AWS now the lowest-priced bid by tens of millions of dollars,” an AWS statement said, according to Federal Times. “The fact that correcting just one error can move the needle that substantially demonstrates why it’s important that the DoD fix all of the evaluation errors that remain unaddressed, and ensure they are getting access to the best technology at the best price. We had made clear that unless the DoD addressed all of the defects in its initial decision, we would continue to pursue a fair and objective review, and that’s exactly where we find ourselves today.”

    Microsoft has maintained for some time that AWS only revised its bid to be more competitive after it lost and realized what Microsoft had bid, in effect performing an end-run around the blind bidding process.

    Microsoft reiterated that stand in its rebuttal statement to AWS:

    “As the losing bidder, Amazon was informed of our pricing, and they realized they’d originally bid too high,” Microsoft spokesperson Frank X. Shaw said in a statement. “They then amended aspects of their bid to achieve a lower price. However, when looking at all the criteria together, the career procurement officials at the DoD decided that given the superior technical advantages and overall value, we continued to offer the best solution.”

  • DOD Investigation Backs Microsoft JEDI Award

    DOD Investigation Backs Microsoft JEDI Award

    The Department of Defense (DOD) has announced the findings of an internal investigation into Microsoft’s JEDI award, upholding the original decision.

    Microsoft shocked the industry when it beat out Amazon for the prized Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, worth some $10 billion. Industry experts had largely expected Amazon to win, especially since it has a history of similar government cloud contracts. Amazon was so stunned by the loss that it immediately sued and succeeded in getting a temporary injunction preventing Microsoft from moving forward until the case could be reviewed in court.

    In the meantime, the DOD performed its own internal review to make sure there was no impropriety, especially given Amazon’s accusations that interference from President Trump was a factor in the decision. The investigation showed that Microsoft was chosen based on the value it represents, a point the company has been making since the saga began.

    ”The Department has completed its comprehensive re-evaluation of the JEDI Cloud proposals and determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the Government.”

    This is another big win for Microsoft and will no doubt help it in its court case against Amazon.

  • Oracle Loses Pentagon Contract Appeal

    Oracle Loses Pentagon Contract Appeal

    A judge has ruled against Oracle in its appeal of how the Pentagon handled its JEDI cloud contract.

    Microsoft made headlines when it won the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Pentagon contract, worth some $10 billion. The win was seen as a major coup for the company as it continues to challenge Amazon’s dominance in the cloud market. Amazon immediately challenged the results in a case that has yet to be decided.

    In a less publicized case, however, Oracle also challenged the Pentagon’s handling of the contract. According to Bloomberg, Oracle claimed the contract requirements unfairly favored Amazon and Microsoft, the two companies that emerged as early leading candidates.

    Ultimately, the three-judge panel ruled that “notwithstanding the extensive array of claims raised by Oracle, we find no reversible error.”

    The decision is a win for Microsoft, and could lend weight to the other case involving Amazon’s appeal.

  • DOJ Inspector General Lends Support to Microsoft’s JEDI Win Over Amazon

    DOJ Inspector General Lends Support to Microsoft’s JEDI Win Over Amazon

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) has reviewed Microsoft’s JEDI win and found no interference by the Trump administration.

    Microsoft stunned the industry when it won the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, worth some $10 billion. Amazon had widely been considered the likely candidate to win the contract, especially given the company’s history of working on sensitive government contracts in the past. In short order, Amazon launched legal challenges to try to have the Pentagon’s decision overturned. One of the alleged discrepancies was disparaging comments President Trump made that Amazon believed may have played a part in Microsoft winning.

    With the DOJ watchdog’s report, however, those concerns seem to have been put to rest—albeit with a bit of a caveat. While acknowledging investigators did encounter some interference from the White House, they said: “However, we believe the evidence we received showed that the DoD personnel who evaluated the contract proposals and awarded Microsoft the JEDI Cloud contract were not pressured regarding their decision on the award of the contract by any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House.”

    At the same time, Microsoft has used the DOJ’s report to accuse Amazon of unfairly trying to gain an advantage in the bidding process. In a blog post following the DOJ’s report, Microsoft said the following:

    “That brings us to where we are today. The DoD is seeking to be responsive to the issue the Court raised in issuing the preliminary injunction. But that’s not good enough for Amazon. Amazon doesn’t want a solution that addresses the Court’s concerns and sticks to the original pricing in the competitors’ bids. According to its brief, it wants no ‘constraint on the offerors’ ability to revise their pricing.’

    “This, according to the government, is a ‘a transparent effort to undercut Microsoft on price, now that [Amazon] has a target at which to aim.’ Amazon dresses its argument in the language of fairness and level playing fields, but the government’s brief looks right through it: ‘That AWS now regrets its pricing strategy is no reason to allow AWS a do-over, after it gained significant information about its competitor’s pricing, enabling it to use the currently prevailing information asymmetry to underbid its competitor in an effort to secure the contract.’”

    While not clearing Microsoft to move forward with the contract, the IG’s findings certainly lend weight to Microsoft’s win and undermine Amazon’s complaints.

  • Bad News For Microsoft: Pentagon Wants a Mulligan On JEDI Contract (Updated)

    Bad News For Microsoft: Pentagon Wants a Mulligan On JEDI Contract (Updated)

    The Department of Defense is reconsidering its decision to award Microsoft the JEDI contract, following legal challenges by Amazon.

    Microsoft stunned Amazon and industry insiders when it won the Pentagon’s coveted JEDI contract, worth some $10 billion. The win lent a tremendous amount of credibility to Microsoft’s cloud business, proving it could compete with the biggest, for the best contracts. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted the contract could lead to a “halo effect” for the company, bringing in even more business.

    Amazon, however, has not taken the loss lying down. The company almost immediately mounted a legal challenge and succeeded in getting a temporary injunction, preventing Microsoft from beginning on the contract. A judge agreed that Amazon stood a good chance of winning its case.

    Now, according to Business Insider, “the Department of Defense on Thursday in a court filing said it ‘wishes to reconsider’ its decision to award the $US10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft.” The Department of Defense said its decision was “in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS.”

    An Amazon spokesperson told WebProNews: “We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged ‘substantial and legitimate’ issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary. We look forward to complete, fair, and effective corrective action that fully insulates the re-evaluation from political influence and corrects the many issues affecting the initial flawed award.”

    A reversal by the Pentagon would be a big loss for Microsoft, and likely have a major impact on how the Pentagon awards contracts going forward.

     

    *Updated with comment from Amazon*

  • Not So Fast: Amazon Likely to Win Defense Contract Lawsuit

    Not So Fast: Amazon Likely to Win Defense Contract Lawsuit

    U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith says Amazon is likely to win its lawsuit challenging Microsoft’s win of a coveted Pentagon contract.

    Last year Microsoft surprised Amazon, and industry insiders alike, by securing the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), worth some $10 billion. Many believed Amazon was all but guaranteed to win the contract, given its long history of working on sensitive projects for the government. In addition, at the time the contract was awarded, Amazon was the only company to have the coveted Impact Level 6 security clearance, although Microsoft was awarded it shortly thereafter.

    Amazon almost immediately launched a lawsuit to overturn the contract award, claiming improper interference by President Trump, who allegedly told then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to “screw Amazon.” Amazon was successful in getting a temporary injunction, preventing Microsoft from beginning work on the contract, which was slated to begin February 13.

    According to U.S. News & World Report, although she did not address Trump’s comments, “Campbell-Smith wrote Amazon ‘is likely to succeed on the merits of its argument that the DOD improperly evaluated’ a Microsoft price scenario. She added Amazon is likely to show that Microsoft’s scenario was not ‘technically feasible’ as the Pentagon assessed.”

    Given that Microsoft is already counting on a halo effect from winning the contract, having the Pentagon’s decision overturned would be a big loss for the company.

  • Amazon Wins Temporary JEDI Injunction

    Amazon Wins Temporary JEDI Injunction

    A federal judge has sided with Amazon imposing a temporary injunction preventing Microsoft from working on the Pentagon’s JEDI contract.

    Microsoft won the Pentagon’s coveted Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract in October 2019, pulling off what was seen as an upset against rival Amazon. Industry experts had believed Amazon was all but guaranteed to win the contract, given its long history of working with classified government data. In fact, it wasn’t until after Microsoft won the award that it was granted the Impact Level 6 clearance, allowing it to store sensitive data in the cloud, rather than air-gapped computers.

    Following Microsoft’s win, Amazon immediately decried what it saw as bias and interference from President Trump. According to former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ biography, President Trump called him in 2018 and told him to “screw Amazon” over the JEDI contract.

    Amazon almost immediately filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In the meantime, it also filed for a temporary injunction to prevent Microsoft from working on the contract until the matter could be settled. With a judge now granting the injunction, it appears the JEDI saga is far from over.

  • CIA Opens Door For Amazon Rivals to Bid On Cloud Contracts

    CIA Opens Door For Amazon Rivals to Bid On Cloud Contracts

    Bloomberg is reporting that the CIA is “planning to hire multiple companies for lucrative cloud computing deals,” a move that will likely hurt Amazon.

    Amazon was the first company to gain the coveted Impact Level 6 security certification, allowing it to store classified data in the cloud. This gave the company a huge advantage when bidding on government contracts involving sensitive data. However, Microsoft ultimately beat out Amazon for the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, worth some $10 billion. In December 2019, Microsoft also became the second company to gain the Impact Level 6 certification, opening the door to more competition for Amazon.

    With the CIA’s latest move, however, that door has been flung wide open, giving multiple companies the chance to compete with the leading cloud provider for lucrative and prestigious contracts.

    According to Bloomberg, “the government said the contracts could last up to 15 years with a five-year base period and two five-year renewals. The estimated award date is September 2020.

    “The CIA has previously indicated that it intended to spend ‘tens of billions’ of dollars on cloud computing, Bloomberg has reported. It’s unclear whether the agency has finalized an amount it plans to spend.”

    With analysts already predicting Microsoft could unseat Amazon as the reigning cloud leader, this latest report is not good news for Amazon. With Microsoft expecting a “halo effect” from the JEDI contact, Amazon may well find itself losing a considerable amount of government work.

  • Microsoft Quarterly Results: Azure Growing Faster Than the Market

    Microsoft Quarterly Results: Azure Growing Faster Than the Market

    Microsoft beat analysts expectations with its quarterly results, with particularly good news coming from the cloud front, according to Bloomberg.

    Overall the company reported revenue of $36.9 billion, a 14% increase over last year. Operating income was $13.9 billion, representing an increase of 35% and net income was $11.6 billion.

    One of the big takeaways, however, was the impact Microsoft’s Azure business had on the company. Azure’s revenue grew 62% over last year. According to AP News, “Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini said in a note to investors Wednesday that Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing business has been growing faster than the broader cloud market.”

    This substantiates earlier reports that Microsoft is making significant headway against AWS in the cloud wars, with a far greater percentage of companies planning on deploying Azure than either AWS or Google Cloud.

    It also seems that securing the Pentagon’s JEDI contract is having the desired ‘halo effect.’ According to AP News, “Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz said in a note that the JEDI cloud contract was a game-changer for Microsoft that goes beyond its likely $10 billion in revenue over the next decade. He said it could also serve as a template leading to broader adoption by other government agencies and business customers.”

    Despite AWS’ commanding lead in the cloud market, it no longer seems a stretch that Microsoft could soon take the lead from AWS.

  • Amazon Wants Court To Block Microsoft From Working On Pentagon Contract

    Amazon Wants Court To Block Microsoft From Working On Pentagon Contract

    In what seems to be a never-ending saga, Amazon is preparing to ask a federal court for a temporary injunction preventing Microsoft from working on the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, according to CNN.

    Microsoft beat out IBM, Oracle and Amazon for the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract worth some $10 billion. Many industry experts had expected Amazon to win, given the company’s long history working on sensitive government projects. In the wake of Microsoft’s win, Oracle and Amazon have launched legal challenges in an effort to roll back the clock.

    In Oracle’s case, it is challenging the terms of the contract award, trying to force a multi-vendor contract rather than winner-takes-all. Even if Oracle was successful, it would still not qualify for the contract for other reasons, but that hasn’t stopped the company from trying.

    Amazon, on the other hand, is trying to stop Microsoft from starting on the contract when they’re scheduled to on February 11. As CNN points out, Amazon believes it lost out on the contract due to remarks President Trump made, and is arguing it was unfairly eliminated. Given that Amazon—unlike Oracle—actually had a very good shot of winning the contract, it’s hard to say whether the court will grant the injunction.

    Either way, it will be interesting to see how far these two companies take their legal challenges. Even Disney knew when it was time to retire a certain Jedi saga. At least for now, in the context of this JEDI, neither Amazon nor Oracle seem so inclined.

  • Microsoft Expects ‘Halo Effect’ From Winning Pentagon JEDI Contract

    Microsoft Expects ‘Halo Effect’ From Winning Pentagon JEDI Contract

    Fresh off of winning the Pentagon’s $10 billion JEDI contract, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company is expecting a “halo effect,” according to Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi.

    “Halo effect” was a term used frequently in regard to Apple products, starting with the iPod. If customers liked the iPod enough, and were impressed with the Apple experience, it might entice them to purchase a Mac. That halo effect has since expanded to iPhones, iPads and Watches. Microsoft is now in a position to generate a halo effect of its own in the cloud market.

    While Windows may be the dominant player in the desktop market, it’s a distant second in the cloud arena, with 15.5% compared with AWS’ 47.8% market share. A significant deal—not to mention Microsoft’s recent Impact Level 6 Pentagon security certification—could entice other government agencies to invest in the software giant for their cloud needs, creating an ever-expanding halo effect. Nadella believes the JEDI contract could do just that, but also emphasized the need to stay grounded and not become overly confident.

    “Any big deal has a halo effect,” Nadella told Sozzi in an exclusive interview. “But to me, the most important thing is not to take any deal you won as some guarantee for future success but to stay humble, stay grounded on what we need to continue to do, which is be obsessed about customer needs. That’s what got us here.”