Oracle Signs 10-Year Software Contract With Pentagon Worth Up To $7 Billion (cnbc.com)
- Reference: 0184619726
- News link: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/07/23/2142251/oracle-signs-10-year-software-contract-with-pentagon-worth-up-to-7-billion
- Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/23/oracle-wins-10-year-pentagon-software-contract-worth-up-to-7-billion.html
> The contract covers the use of Oracle software in on-premises data centers for branches of the military, the U.S. intelligence community and the Coast Guard, according to a statement. The Central Intelligence Agency was Oracle's first customer. A five-year base period for the contract includes perpetual and subscription-based software licenses, maintenance and consulting, according to one description.
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> Kirsten Davies, the Department of Defense's chief information officer, said in the release that the agency is saving at least $441 million for taxpayers "by fundamentally improving how we procure on-premises Oracle capabilities."
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/23/oracle-wins-10-year-pentagon-software-contract-worth-up-to-7-billion.html
[2] https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4554053/contracts-for-july-23-2026/
Where are the savings coming from? (Score:5, Insightful)
> Kirsten Davies, the Department of Defense's chief information officer, said in the release that the agency is saving at least $441 million for taxpayers "by fundamentally improving how we procure on-premises Oracle capabilities."
So, it's $441M saved, by improvements in procurement. Not sure what that means. Does that mean Oracle gave them a $441M discount, or they found a way to reduce $441M in wasted money on the procurement process? Or something else?
In any case, this sounds like puffery.
Re: (Score:2)
Without a site license, one would expect each Service and each Program to negotiate a separate contract with Oracle (or any other software vendor.) Enterprise site licensing is pretty common, both in government circles and in industry, with savings over a collection of individual purchases. So there's nothing unusual about this.
Re: (Score:2)
If that's true, then what is unusual is that it wasn't done a long time ago.
Re: (Score:2)
DoD has been doing site licensing for Oracle for at least 25 years. On my project, we found a site license that covered our selection & use of Oracle back around 2001/2002. So NO NEWS HERE.
Re: (Score:2)
So, Oracle site licenses for DoD have existed for 25 years. Then we still don't have an answer to my question: Where are the savings coming from?
Long term contracts (Score:1)
Expect a lot of long term contracts to be signed between the US Government and those who contributed $$ to Trump. Lock it in while he is still in office.
Re: (Score:2)
Congress needs to approve multi-year contracts. I think this might qualify.
Remember, Congress (not POTUS) controls the purse. At least, it's supposed to work that way.
Re: (Score:2)
> Congress needs to approve multi-year contracts. I think this might qualify.
Well, it turns out it doesn't. The DoD can negotiate contracts like this, as long as the funding is available from previously-appropriated budgets.
High quality (Score:5, Funny)
No doubt they will get high quality products and services as a result. Oracle provides nothing other.
Re: (Score:2)
Best BJ's ever, believe me!
Larry Ellison applied for unemployment benefits (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a bailout and I bet Donnie T. will line up his pockets with the "referral bonus".
Re: (Score:2)
Not just a bail-out, it's Donnieâ(TM)s quid-pro-quo of course. Nothing like day-light corruption to cap things off.
How much consultant wii that get the Pentagon? (Score:3)
Larry Ellison can at least afford another island in Hawai with this deal.
Re: (Score:2)
> another island in Hawaii
Or Saint Helena. It's been a while since they had such a distinguished "guest".
Great news! (Score:2, Insightful)
Great for America's enemies, that is. If even a quarter of what I've heard about Oracle's offerings being over-budget, never-on-time, never-on-spec shitshows is actually true, then this will weaken the country's defense capabilities.
Then again, it's no longer the DoD, it's now the DoW - so maybe defense is no longer important? /sarc
Re: (Score:2)
The real contracts will still happen. This one is just a reward/handout from The Don.
Re: (Score:2)
> just a reward/handout from The Don.
...Corleone.
Terrible Person Sells Terrible Software (Score:2)
to Terrible Administration
News at Eleven!
Oracle is like Postgres (Score:2)
...with a couple more features you probably don't need, missing some cool stuff you'd rather have.
And hideously expensive and complicated to administer, instead of free.
How much did it cost to bribe Trump? (Score:2)
What's the going bribery rate for a $7 billion contract?
No matter what Ellison comes out personally richer while the rest of us pay the bill.
Re: (Score:2)
$45 million. [1]https://fortune.com/2026/06/25... [fortune.com]
[1] https://fortune.com/2026/06/25/larry-ellison-donald-trump-45-million-donation-stargate-tiktok-paramount/
The Grift Continues (Score:1)
We no longer have a working government. Any attempts to complain will label you an enemy of the state.
The government's big enough to build its own (Score:4, Interesting)
They could just hire people to do it and then the fruits of that labor could be available to everyone as open source. As an added bonus we wouldn't be constantly paying for the profitability of private companies for no particularly good reason. And we wouldn't be creating billionaires that are going to undermine our democracy.
But something something socialism so here we are... All of us stuck with shit software that constantly spies on us
Re: The government's big enough to build its own (Score:1)
Exactly. The government does develop technology, like Siri at IARPA and it hands it out to billionaires in private sector (Apple)
Re: (Score:2)
Socialize the losses, privatize the profits.
Re: (Score:2)
Always the time-honored classic. Of course, it hastens the demise of society, but who cares about minor details like that ...
Re: (Score:2)
> But something something socialism so here we are... All of us stuck with shit software that constantly spies on us
Governments are generally not made up of people with real capabilities. And the voted-for parts are worse.
They used to...it didn't go great. (Score:1)
> They could just hire people to do it and then the fruits of that labor could be available to everyone as open source. As an added bonus we wouldn't be constantly paying for the profitability of private companies for no particularly good reason. And we wouldn't be creating billionaires that are going to undermine our democracy. But something something socialism so here we are... All of us stuck with shit software that constantly spies on us
First of all, didn't Oracle get it's start as a CIA product? The company is a shit show today, but you can't dispute that they were a leader in the 80s and even the 90s. Ask anyone who has served or even just worked in gov. They've dealt with poorly-maintained software written for a specific purpose.
The gov COULD write software in theory, but historically, they do more poorly than when they hire consultants to do so. The ideal is private industry with heavy accountability. Those private businesses