Trump concerned about $10bn Pentagon cloud computing contract

Trump could stop JEDI cloud contract over competition concerns as bidding comes down Microsoft versus Amazon

President Trump has reportedly voiced belated concerns about the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract, which is set to be scooped up by either Microsoft or Amazon.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Trump has asked to receive more information about the contract so that he can decide whether or not to launch an investigation.

JEDI - Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure - was criticised early on for being a winner-takes-all contract, when the Pentagon's needs might be better served by a multi-cloud approach. It is estimated that it will be worth around $10 billion to the winner over the next decade.

Google pulled out of the bidding at an earlier stage, bowing to employee demands that it shouldn't lend its artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the Pentagon. Oracle and IBM were eliminated in the last round.

Now, somewhat late in the process, Bloomberg reports that the president has since been alerted about letters sent by Republican politicians to the White House and military officials voicing concerns about the cloud contract.

In particular, they believe that the broad scope of the contract's terms have unfairly left some companies, such as Oracle, out of the running. A decision on the successful winner is expected in the next month or so.

"Sources familiar with the situation" claimed to Bloomberg that the president was frustrated because he was not made aware of these concerns and has asked to see the letters in detail.

They believe that Trump will look into the details of the contract, but that they don't know if he would stop the contract from being awarded to either Amazon or Microsoft.

Having been made aware of this correspondence, the president has since spoken to several politicians who have raised concerns about the contract.

Florida-based senator Marco Rubio spoke to the president over the phone shortly after sending a letter to national security adviser John Bolton, in which he claimed that the contract "suffers from a lack of competition". According to a source, who heard the call, Trump could be about to cancel it entirely.

Trump also spoke about the issue with the Senate Homeland Security chairman during a flight aboard Air Force One, where he was keen to understand the concerns here.

This news comes days after a US federal judge dismissed Oracle's challenge to the Pentagon's JEDI mega-cloud contract, which it argued favours Amazon.

Senior Judge Eric Bruggink said there was no evidence to provide bias in the selection process for the contract, adding that Oracle failed to prove any conflict.

According to Bloomberg, the judge also came to the conclusion that Oracle didn't meet the eligibility criteria and "cannot demonstrate prejudice as a result of other possible errors in the procurement process".

The US Department of Defence is expected to offer the contract to either Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure next month.

Trump's concerns echo Oracle's complaints that the contract has been designed for the benefit of AWS and Microsoft, with the world's two biggest cloud providers probably best able to fit with the contract's broad demands.

Oracle also has reasonably strong links into the Trump administration, with co-CEO Safra Catz joining President Trump's transition team shortly after his election in November 2016.

However, over the last week, Oracle lost its court case over the JEDI contract, with the judge dismissing the software giant's arguments.