{"id":53601,"date":"2021-06-21T20:13:50","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T20:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/21\/pentagon-to-reveal-jedi-cloud-computing-contracts-future-in-coming-weeks\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:55:40","slug":"pentagon-to-reveal-jedi-cloud-computing-contracts-future-in-coming-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2021\/06\/21\/pentagon-to-reveal-jedi-cloud-computing-contracts-future-in-coming-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon to reveal JEDI cloud computing contract\u2019s future in coming weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 As the Pentagon mulls whether to scrap the so-called JEDI cloud computing contract<\/a> worth potentially $10 billion, it will decide what\u2019s next within a month or so, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very actively looking at our options right now, and we have a good sense of what our needs [are], and we\u2019re working through what the potential solutions are,\u201d Hicks said at a Defense One conference. \u201cWe\u2019ll be moving in a direction over the next month or so, but I\u2019m not going to get into where we might end up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud for use across the DoD was awarded to Microsoft<\/a>, but it\u2019s been mired in legal challenges<\/a>. Hicks, the Pentagon\u2019s No. 2 civilian, said she could not discuss the matter in detail because of the ongoing litigation over the JEDI deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hicks acknowledged that Pentagon\u2019s centerpiece joint war-fighting strategy, Joint All-Domain Command and Control, hinges on its implementation of cloud computing \u2015 and that using the technology at the \u201cboardroom\u201d level would enable efficiency measures such as internal audits and inventory control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt we have to have a pathway forward on cloud,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments came as Pentagon officials have been pitching a $715 billion defense budget on Capitol Hill that emphasizes technology development and divests from legacy platforms. That budget reflects a forward push, even as the administration is conducting a revamp of the national defense strategy to direct future modernization efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within DoD, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved some analyses of joint concepts, expected to inform future investments. At the same time, DoD has launched a new program called the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, using the acronym RDER, pronounced \u201craider,\u201d which Hicks mentioned Monday for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo compete for the RDER, you have to have multiple components involved, you have to be tied into where we\u2019re heading with our joint concepts, and we hope we can advance, ahead of the national defense strategy, some of those concepts and capabilities we want to see,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to move from rhetoric to reality, concepts to capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t