October 9, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By Naomi Nix
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has decided not to compete for the Pentagon's cloud-computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion, saying the project may conflict with its corporate values.
The project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI, involves transitioning massive amounts of Defense Department data to a commercially operated cloud system. Companies are due to submit bids for the contract, which could last as long as 10 years, on Oct. 12th.
Google's announcement on Monday came just months after the company decided not to renew its contract with a Pentagon artificial intelligence program, after extensive protests from employees of the internet giant about working with the military. The company then released a set of principles designed to evaluate what kind of artificial intelligence projects it would pursue.
“We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.”
The spokesman added that Google is “working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways.”
The Tech Workers Coalition, which advocates for giving employees a say in technology company decisions, said in a statement that Google's decision to withdraw from the cloud competition stemmed from “sustained” pressure from tech workers who “have significant power, and are increasingly willing to use it.”
Read more: Google Won't Renew Pentagon AI Drone Deal After Staff Backlash
Google is behind other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in obtaining government cloud-security authorizations that depend on the sensitivity of data a service is hosting.
The JEDI contract attracted widespread interest from technology companies struggling to catch up with Amazon in the burgeoning federal government market for cloud services. Final requirements for the project were released in July after a months-long lobbying campaign in Washington by tech companies including Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. that opposed the Pentagon's plans to choose just one winner for the project instead of splitting the contract among a number of providers.
“Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it,” the Google spokesman said. “Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload.”
In a report to Congress, the Defense Department said making multiple awards under current acquisition law would be a slow process that “could prevent DoD from rapidly delivering new capabilities and improved effectiveness to the warfighter that enterprise-level cloud computing can enable.”
The department also said it expects “to maintain contracts with numerous cloud providers to access specialized capabilities not available under the JEDI Cloud contract.”
— With assistance by Ben Brody, and Josh Eidelson
February 13, 2024 | International, Aerospace
A sweeping set of proposals could comprise one of the Department of the Air Force's most significant reorganizations since the end of the Cold War.
May 29, 2020 | International, Land
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has OK'd a trio of packages to update Kuwait's Patriot missile defense systems, with a combined potential price tag of $1.425 billion. The three packages, announced on the website of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Thursday, include $425 million for sustainment and technical assistance, $200 million for a repair and return program, and $800 million for 84 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile segment enhancements. DSCA notifications are not final sales; if cleared by Congress, Kuwait will then enter negotiations over the package, during which quantities and costs can shift. The potential sales “will supplement and improve Kuwait's capability to meet current and future threats and provide greater security for its critical oil and natural gas infrastructure,” according to the DSCA. “Kuwait will use the enhanced capability to strengthen its homeland defense. Kuwait will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and services into its armed forces.” The repair and return program involves shipping items that can't be serviced on the ground back to the U.S. military for refurbishment, and then inducted into the military's regular repair cycle. When the repairs are complete, the parts are shipped back to the country that owns them, which is then billed for the repairs. Work will be performed at a number of locations, primarily the Huntsville, Alabama, locations of Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Leido and KBR. In addition, work on the PAC-3 missile segments will be done at Lockheed's Dallas, Texas, office. Kuwait has been a reliable customer for American military goods. Excluding Thursday's announcements, the country has been cleared for 13 Foreign Military Sales cases since the start of fiscal 2017, with an estimated price tag of $13.9 billion. https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2020/05/28/kuwait-wants-to-spend-over-14-billion-on-patriot-upgrades/
November 4, 2021 | International, Land
Boeing and General Atomics are onboard to develop a 300-kilowatt laser weapon system for the U.S. Army.