Pentagon awards billion-dollar cloud deals to Big Tech firms

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced that it had awarded cloud-computing contracts to Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle as part of its Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability initiative.

The deals have the potential to total up to $9 billion for each firm through 2028, CNBC reported. Each firm received an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, which means the Big Tech platforms are on the hook to provide services, potentially as needed.

"The purpose of this contract is to provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels, from the strategic level to the tactical edge," the Department of Defense said of the deals, per the outlet.

The contracts follow a contentious battle between several of the firms over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, which went to Microsoft three years ago. Amazon and Oracle challenged the Pentagon's award of JEDI to Microsoft, though the deal ultimately went through.

With multiple providers offering cloud services, the Pentagon may be in a better position to weather disruptions and outages, CNBC suggested.