Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI cloud)

Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) is the proposed United States Department of Defense (DoD) cloud infrastructure network.

The preliminary initiative for the JEDI project began in March 2018, as a request for proposal (RFP) so providers could bid on the contract. The $10 billion contract was originally set to close in May 2018 and was later extended to October 2018. The awarding of the contract subsequently came under dispute, causing additional delays. Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Google were among the companies contending for the contract. Google later dropped out after employee complaints that the project did not fit their culture.

Although some critics commented that $10 billion for the ten-year contract seems like a lot, the reality is that the cloud market’s current value is $60 billion annually and forecasted to increase to $100 billion.

After reports that Amazon is expected to win the contract, IBM filed a complaint with the government accountability office. Oracle has taken the issue to court. Both companies are alleging that the contract was unfairly written to favor Amazon. As of this writing, there has been no updates on the the progress of the project.