The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is about to splash out twice as much dosh on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the next three years, after they’ve decided to stick with their somewhat iffy hosting deal with the cloud bigwig.
For those who came in late, the CMA is investigating AWS and Microsoft for having too much anti-trust control over the cloud market. So, it makes the news that it kicked off its latest three-year stint with AWS on 1 May 2024 and forked out a hefty £437,151 this time around appear a little ironic.
The paperwork for the deal shows it’s all above board, done under the G-Cloud 13 procurement contract that the UK government’s got set up. The CMA’s getting a sweet deal on AWS’s gear, thanks to the One Government Value Agreement 2.0 (OGVA).
This OGVA 2.0 thing went live in December 2023, and it’s a bit of a bargain bin for public sector IT buyers to get their hands on AWS’s cloud services without breaking the bank.
It isn’t the first rodeo for the CMA with the OGVA. Last November, a poke around by Computer Weekly found out that the CMA was one of 15 public sector outfits that got a discount on AWS services through the OGVA’s first go-around.
The CMA had previously snagged a 36-month deal with AWS, which ran out in April 2024, worth £191,303.
This juicy bit of info popped up just a month after the CMA issued a challenge in October 2023, announcing an anti-trust investigation into AWS and Microsoft. This followed Ofcom’s sleuthing that sniffed out some dodgy business practices by the two tech titans.
The CMA’s got its eye on whether AWS and Microsoft’s cosy pricing deals are doing the dirty on the UK cloud market competition.
Even though the controversial CMA contract with AWS started way before their anti-trust probe into AWS and Microsoft, it’s raised a few eyebrows about a potential conflict of interest among the public sector IT crowd.
Ofcom’s sent the UK cloud market to the CMA for a deeper look into anti-competition shenanigans.
CMA’s set the starting point for their UK cloud market anti-trust investigation into AWS and Microsoft.
The government’s cosy pricing deals with AWS and Microsoft are getting some side-eye after the CMA’s probe.
A CMA spokesperson tried to swat away any natter about the discounts from AWS, mucking up the integrity of their investigation by saying none of the corporate or procurement teams are involved in the UK cloud market probe.
Civo CEO Mark Boost said the news that the CMA chose to renew its contract with AWS was a great disappointment.
“At a time when the regulator is assessing the monopolising practice of the hyperscalers, we would expect greater awareness from the CMA on the message this sends to those eagerly awaiting its review.”
“With the UK approaching the election, we need to think hard about the direction we want to take with cloud. Regulators, governments, and businesses should be free to decide their technological destiny. They should not be limited by the obscure billing and convoluted services that the Big Tech brands in Silicon Valley offer. Whoever is in No.10 this time next year needs to address this as an urgent priority.”
