Microsoft vendors win Pentagon contract

General Dynamics awarded deal worth nearly $7.6 billion

Vendors led by General Dynamics were awarded a contract for as much as $7.6 billion to provide Microsoft office software for the Pentagon, the Defense Department and General Services Administration said.

While the Microsoft 360 productivity sof tware is cloud-based, the contract isn’t related to the hotly disputed “JEDI” cloud project that the Pentagon has yet to award. Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are the two remaining competitors for that prize, which may reach $10 billion.

The project awarded Thursday, called Defense Enterprise Office Solutions, or DEOS, will provide tools including word processing, email, filesharing and spreadsheets.

The agencies said they chose a bid from General Dynamics’ CSRA unit and partner companies for a contract that the Defense Department estimates at as much as $7.6 billion over 10 years, including a five-year base period and opportunities to renew.

“DOD’s cloud strategy includes both general purpose and fit- for- purpose clouds. DEOS is a great example of a fit-for-purpose cloud that supports our multi- cloud strategy,” Defense Department Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy said in a statement.

Thursday’s announcement comes as the Pentagon is preparing for implementation of the controversial cloud- computing contract for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. Pentagon said the JEDI contract is intended to be the primary data repository for Pentagon data, while other cloud vendors will be used for other projects.

In April, the Pentagon eliminated Oracle Corp. and International Business Ma