Pentagon reconsidering huge JEDI cloud-computing contract

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is reconsidering how to make a massive shift to cloud computing, officials said Monday, suggesting it could scrap the so-called JEDI contract potentially worth $10 billion that was awarded to Microsoft Corp. but is mired in legal challenges. “We are going to have to assess where we are in regards to the ongoing litigation and determine what the best path forward is for the department,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Jamal Brown said, citing remarks by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks at a public forum late last month. The Wall Street Journal was first to report Monday that the Pentagon is considering “pulling the plug” on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, known as JEDI, in light of ongoing legal challenges to the Pentagon’s decision in 2019 to award the contract to Microsoft over Amazon Web Services. Amazon Web Services, a market leader in providing cloud computing services, had long been considered a leading candidate to run the JEDI project, which would store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the U.S. military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield and use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.