Trump makes public contract personal by snubbing Amazon for $10 billion contract

[woolfe9998]

I don't know that this is corruption, as in something illegal, but it is, at a minimum, extreme government malfeasance.

When a $10 billion DoD cloud computing contract is awarded to Microsoft instead of Amazon, apparently because Trump doesn't like Bezos, and when Trump tells Mattis to "screw Amazon" out of the contract,

Trump ordered Mattis to 'screw Amazon' on Pentagon contract, according to new book | CNN Politics

A new biography of former Defense Secretary James Mattis reports President Donald Trump personally got involved in who would win a major $10 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon, according to the website Task & Purpose, which writes about military issues.

www.cnn.com

That's some shitty government right there for you. Public contracts should be awarded based on merit and bid, not the President's personal vendettas.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I can only guess that Trump has something against Amazon because Bezos owns the Washington Post and doesn't give him virtual handjobs?

Either way, whom the government goes with as far as cloud computing should be based on security. Whom that is... I don't have the slightest clue....


Honestly I don't understand his hatred for Amazon outside of WaPo.... It is capitalism at its finest. It is making B&M adapt or die.

 

[uclaLabrat]

But ethics! Drain the swamp!

 

[tweaker2]

I've finally decided that Trump is worse than Nixon, who was up 'til now my favorite totally corrupted public bureaucrat, closely followed by the Bush/Cheney cabal. Reagan gets a pass because he was a girly man that Cheney would have loved to smack around and bitch slap into...........submission.

 

[bbhaag]

I'm really upset the DOD chose one multi-billion dollar corporation over another. It really breaks my heart to hear this news.

 

[JEDIYoda]

But ethics! Drain the swamp!

The problem is there are also fresh water crocodiles...

 

[crashtech]

The Pentagon needs to outsource $10 billion worth of cloud computing capacity? That's a bit mind boggling all on its own. The mind reels at the security risks that have to constantly be addressed. How much of the NSA's computing capacity is outsourced, I wonder?

 

[Greenman]

A quick google search and some division says that ten billion equates to over $4000 of cloud computing for every single person in the military.
They must have the most impressive porn collection on the planet.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I never thought out souecing was a problem?

Why the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI deal has cloud companies going nuts | TechCrunch

By now you've probably heard of the Defense Department's massive winner-take-all $10 billion cloud contract dubbed the Joint Enterprise Defense

techcrunch.com

By now you’ve probably heard of the Defense Department’s massive winner-take-all $10 billion cloud contract dubbed the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (or JEDI for short).
Star Wars references aside, this contract is huge, even by government standards.The Pentagon would like a single cloud vendor to build out its enterprise cloud, believing rightly or wrongly that this is the best approach to maintain focus and control of their cloud strategy.

Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson Heather Babb tells TechCrunch the department sees a lot of upside by going this route. “Single award is advantageous because, among other things, it improves security, improves data accessibility and simplifies the Department’s ability to adopt and use cloud services,” she said.

Whatever company they choose to fill this contract, this is about modernizing their computing infrastructure and their combat forces for a world of IoT, artificial intelligence and big data analysis, while consolidating some of their older infrastructure. “The DOD Cloud Initiative is part of a much larger effort to modernize the Department’s information technology enterprise. The foundation of this effort is rationalizing the number of networks, data centers and clouds that currently exist in the Department,” Babb said.

Setting the stage
It’s possible that whoever wins this DOD contract could have a leg up on other similar projects in the government. After all it’s not easy to pass muster around security and reliability with the military and if one company can prove that they are capable in this regard, they could be set up well beyond this one deal.

As Babb explains it though, it’s really about figuring out the cloud long-term. “JEDI Cloud is a pathfinder effort to help DOD learn how to put in place an enterprise cloud solution and a critical first step that enables data-driven decision making and allows DOD to take full advantage of applications and data resources,” she said.

The single vendor component, however, could explain why the various cloud vendors who are bidding, have lost their minds a bit over it — everyone except Amazon, that is, which has been mostly silent, happy apparently to let the process play out.

The belief amongst the various other players, is that Amazon is in the driver’s seat for this bid, possibly because they delivered a $600 million cloud contract for the government in 2013, standing up a private cloud for the CIA. It was a big deal back in the day on a couple of levels. First of all, it was the first large-scale example of an intelligence agency using a public cloud provider. And of course the amount of money was pretty impressive for the time, not $10 billion impressive, but a nice contract.

For what it’s worth, Babb dismisses such talk, saying that the process is open and no vendor has an advantage. “The JEDI Cloud final RFP reflects the unique and critical needs of DOD, employing the best practices of competitive pricing and security. No vendors have been pre-selected,” she said.

There is a lot more and if you ,keep reading this is a milti year contract that might even go 10+ years into the future...

 

[DarthKyrie]

The real question is: Will they use AMD Epyc2?

 

[woolfe9998]

I'm really upset the DOD chose one multi-billion dollar corporation over another. It really breaks my heart to hear this news.

I couldn't care less which company gets the contract. The point is that public contracts shouldn't be awarded based on the President's personal whims and feelings.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I'm really upset the DOD chose one multi-billion dollar corporation over another. It really breaks my heart to hear this news.

Derp.

 

[ch33zw1z]

The Pentagon needs to outsource $10 billion worth of cloud computing capacity? That's a bit mind boggling all on its own. The mind reels at the security risks that have to constantly be addressed. How much of the NSA's computing capacity is outsourced, I wonder?

Before making this assertion, I would need to know their current computer, storage, lan / San needs, and what would be included in the 10billion contract.

10 billion sounds like a lot, but more details required

 

[tweaker2]

I couldn't care less which company gets the contract. The point is that public contracts shouldn't be awarded based on the President's personal whims and feelings.

Well it really is a sad thing that Trump's personal whims and feelings are all that's running the country at the moment. The tyrant is running amok in the minefield of world politics creating chaos, uncertainty, divisiveness and distrust among our allies while his supporters are cheering him on as if he's doing a really terrific job of "strategerizing" and "presidenting" for the MAGA.

This is the new normal that Trump and his followers thought was going to make America so much better than Obama ever could. This is the state of insanity we're living in all because Trump wants to make anything and everything a point of personal choice and will, as we've all been witnessing, break norms and laws to make that happen.

 

[brycejones]

A quick google search and some division says that ten billion equates to over $4000 of cloud computing for every single person in the military.
They must have the most impressive porn collection on the planet.

Its a 10 year contract.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Trump shouldn't be allowed to make decisions on anything important. Let him go back to barging in on underage girls in their dressing room.....MAGA!

 

[interchange]

I don't know that this is corruption, as in something illegal, but it is, at a minimum, extreme government malfeasance.

When a $10 billion DoD cloud computing contract is awarded to Microsoft instead of Amazon, apparently because Trump doesn't like Bezos, and when Trump tells Mattis to "screw Amazon" out of the contract,

Trump ordered Mattis to 'screw Amazon' on Pentagon contract, according to new book | CNN Politics

A new biography of former Defense Secretary James Mattis reports President Donald Trump personally got involved in who would win a major $10 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon, according to the website Task & Purpose, which writes about military issues.

www.cnn.com

That's some shitty government right there for you. Public contracts should be awarded based on merit and bid, not the President's personal vendettas.

If the reason is that Bezos owns WaPo that is mean to him, damn right that's a 1A violation.

 

[Brainonska511]

I couldn't care less which company gets the contract. The point is that public contracts shouldn't be awarded based on the President's personal whims and feelings.

Yes, but I feel like half the arguments we're having nowadays are like "there shouldn't be a horse in the hospital." The horse has already been let loose...

 

[hal2kilo]

The Pentagon needs to outsource $10 billion worth of cloud computing capacity? That's a bit mind boggling all on its own. The mind reels at the security risks that have to constantly be addressed. How much of the NSA's computing capacity is outsourced, I wonder?

It's happening. The company I just retired from, L3Harris (now), a defense contractor with many classified programs, participated in a pilot project with the Microsoft cloud and DOD government approval, to use cloud services.

 

[Thump553]

I'm really upset the DOD chose one multi-billion dollar corporation over another. It really breaks my heart to hear this news.

I do think we the payers deserve the most for our money and the military should have the best and most reliable services under this contract. The contract should not be doled out on the personal whims of our would-be emperor.

 

[Thump553]

I've finally decided that Trump is worse than Nixon, who was up 'til now my favorite totally corrupted public bureaucrat, closely followed by the Bush/Cheney cabal. Reagan gets a pass because he was a girly man that Cheney would have loved to smack around and bitch slap into...........submission.

I was subject to the draft when Nixon and Kissinger stalled the Vietnam peace talks for over a year while arguing over the shape of the table. Even still it took me about two weeks to come to the realization that Trump far surpasses Nixon in the race to the bottom. The advantage Trump has is that he cares not one bit about the Constitution or democracy while Nixon, at his core, still believed in American values. Nixon did some good too, while I'm still at a loss to point out anything positive Trump has actually done (as opposed to taking credit for).

 

[DarthKyrie]

I was subject to the draft when Nixon and Kissinger stalled the Vietnam peace talks for over a year while arguing over the shape of the table. Even still it took me about two weeks to come to the realization that Trump far surpasses Nixon in the race to the bottom. The advantage Trump has is that he cares not one bit about the Constitution or democracy while Nixon, at his core, still believed in American values. Nixon did some good too, while I'm still at a loss to point out anything positive Trump has actually done (as opposed to taking credit for).

Trump saved us from the Great Obozo Recession. GWB left Office with the stock market rising rapidly while we were adding a million jobs a month and people were able to afford to buy a house. Obummer failed us on 9/11 and his response to Hurricane Katrina was just horrible, I heard he was playing golf in Kenya on both of those days.

None of the above is true and if you believe it to be true then you really need help.

 

[tweaker2]

I was subject to the draft when Nixon and Kissinger stalled the Vietnam peace talks for over a year while arguing over the shape of the table. Even still it took me about two weeks to come to the realization that Trump far surpasses Nixon in the race to the bottom. The advantage Trump has is that he cares not one bit about the Constitution or democracy while Nixon, at his core, still believed in American values. Nixon did some good too, while I'm still at a loss to point out anything positive Trump has actually done (as opposed to taking credit for).

Fellow draftee here. Did my tour in 'Nam. This is part of the reason why I held such a grudge against Nixon (and others) for all these years for the way we were jerked around over there feeling like we had to conjure up our own reasons for risking life and limb due to lack of commitment from the civilian leadership and news from back home that we were baby killers.

 

[Indus]

The real question is: Will they use AMD Epyc2?

No they will use the 5ghz all core Intel with Air Conditioning. It's the greatest thing.. it's so hot it can't be handled by fans and needs an Air Conditioning unit so it's not all glowing like a ball of fire!

Ingenius!!

 

[DarthKyrie]

No they will use the 5ghz all core Intel with Air Conditioning. It's the greatest thing.. it's so hot it can't be handled by fans and needs an Air Conditioning unit so it's not all glowing like a ball of fire!

Ingenius!!

If they did that they would need to figure out how to make an LN2 closed-loop with a 200-gallon tank of LN2 as the reservoir, you'd also need a medium-sized nuclear powerplant to supply that much power.