Amazon Challenges Microsoft's $10B DoD JEDI Cloud Contract

Over two years have passed since the Department of Defense revealed its $10 billion, ten-year JEDI cloud contract, intended to facilitate technological upgrades for the U.S. military. Although Microsoft received the contract in October 2019, Amazon initiated legal action to challenge that decision, and the matter has remained unresolved in the courts.

Yesterday brought another development in this governmental purchasing process when Amazon submitted its most recent legal filing, requesting a judge to overturn the decision to choose Microsoft. The arguments presented echo previous claims, but this time focus on the Pentagon’s revised evaluation, which, following a review of the contract and selection procedures, still determined Microsoft as the winner in a ruling released last September.

Amazon contends that this reevaluation was seriously deficient and susceptible to improper influence, prejudice, and pressure from the president. Consequently, Amazon has petitioned the court to invalidate the award to Microsoft:

Frank X. Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft, naturally disagrees, asserting that his company rightfully won based on its strengths and competitive pricing.

“As the unsuccessful bidder, Amazon was informed of our pricing structure and recognized that their initial bid was too high. They subsequently modified their proposal to achieve a lower price. However, considering all evaluation criteria, the career procurement professionals at the DoD concluded that, due to our superior technical capabilities and overall value, we continued to present the optimal solution,” Shaw stated in a communication shared with TechCrunch.

Amazon, through a spokesperson, conveyed to TechCrunch, “We are simply requesting a just and impartial review by the court, concerning the technical mistakes, bias, and political meddling that clearly affected this contract award.”

And the situation persists.

The Pentagon initially announced a request for bids for a $10 billion, decade-long contract in 2018, naming it JEDI, an acronym for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure. The procurement process has been fraught with contention from the outset, and the scale and importance of the deal have garnered considerable attention, exceeding that of a typical government contract. This attracted accusations of favoritism, notably from Oracle, alleging that the bidding process was structured to benefit Amazon.

More than two years have elapsed since the initial announcement, and over a year has passed since the original award to Microsoft, yet the case remains entangled in a legal dispute with the two technology giants continuing to publicly criticize each other. Given the unwillingness of either party to concede, the court will ultimately determine the final resolution, potentially bringing this lengthy process to a close.

Note: The DoD did not respond to our request for comment. Should that change, we will update the story.