Google Places Bid for a New Cloud Contract with the Pentagon
Earlier this month, the head of Google Cloud revealed that the company is in talks with the DoD for a massive new cloud computing contract that will replace the canceled JEDI project.
Senior members from the recently rebranded Google Cloud (formerly Google Cloud Platform) revealed earlier this month that the cloud vendor has been in talks with the Department of Defence regarding a new contract for a massive project. The news comes after a series of major Cloud-Military events including Google employee protests, Project MAVEN, the Project JEDI, and its subsequent cancellation in July earlier this year.
Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability
The new cloud-military endeavor is reportedly called the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability but details are sparse. The new project is expected to replace the Joint Defence Infrastructure (JEDI) contract which was supposed to consolidate all of the Pentagon’s cloud infrastructure efforts at a single vendor. Microsoft won the 10-year, $10 billion contract before it was ultimately canceled following a lengthy legal battle with other cloud vendors, particularly Amazon Web Services (AWS). The Pentagon said the contract was canceled because of the agency’s evolving needs and that the new contract better addressed their needs.
Read the full story:Pentagon Cancels Microsoft’s $10 Billion JEDI Cloud Contract
The new Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract will split the JEDI contract into multiple cloud vendors, lasting three years. One of the main reasons Google Cloud backed out of the JEDI contract in the first place was because of the size and scale, however, it’s not the first time Google has shied away from military contracts.
Third time’s the charm
In 2018, Google Cloud decided not to renew its contract with the Department of Defense following massive employee protests. The contract was for Project Maven which among other things, focused on using artificial intelligence to examine videos and potentially using the technology to improve drone strike accuracy.
After thousands of employees signed a letter against this bid, the company decided against renewing the contract with the Department of Defense. Google also published a series of ethical guidelines on artificial intelligence deployment, barring its use for weapons or surveillance. At the moment, it’s unclear if the new contract will directly see Google technology applied in these areas but a Pentagon official did say that the technology will likely be a helpful tool in the battlefield, according to the Times.
The company later put in its bid for the JEDI contract before withdrawing from it as well (albeit for different reasons). 2022 may be the first time since 2018 that Google Cloud takes on a massive military contract. It’s difficult to judge employee reaction but we think the company is better prepared this time around.
Already At Work
A Google spokesperson stated that the company is “firmly committed to serving our public sector customers, including the DoD”. Sources told the New York Times that Google Cloud’s senior executives had greenlit work on the latest bid as early as September of this year. According to the sources, Google Cloud announced a “Code Yellow” situation in light of the Pentagon contract. Code Yellow in the company means an emergency transfer of engineers and staff to a different project.
At the same time, more employees have joined the Alphabet Workers Union since the news went public on Wednesday. The Union stated on Twitter that it plans on fighting Google’s involvement with the military once again.
The Department of Defence will award the contract to multiple vendors by April next year.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
