PENTAGON | Searching Cloud Service

Pentagon asks AWS, Microsoft, Google and Oracle to bid for new cloud contract

The US Defense Department on Friday asked Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google and Oracle to submit bids for a new, multi-billion-dollar cloud contract. The solicitation comes months after the Pentagon scrapped the plans for its controversial, $10 billion JEDI cloud contract, which was slated to go to Microsoft. 

The new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability contract is a multi-vendor Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The federal government said it anticipates awarding just two IDIQ contracts -- one to AWS and one to Microsoft. Among US hyperscale cloud service providers, only AWS and Microsoft "appear to be capable of meeting all of the DoD's requirements at this time, including providing cloud services at all levels of national security classification," the US General Services Administration said.