Pentagon Will Rethink Giant Contract After Amazon Suit

Bezos says Trump gave huge deal to Microsoft because of personal vendetta
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2020 4:08 PM CDT
Pentagon Will Rethink Giant Contract After Amazon Suit
This 2008, aerial file photo shows the Pentagon in Washington.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Amazon has gotten another indication that something might come of its lawsuit against the Defense Department over its handling of a cloud contract worth billions. The Pentagon told a court in a filing Thursday that it "wishes to reconsider its award decision." The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract was awarded to Microsoft in October. After losing out, Amazon Web Services took its objections to the US Court of Federal Claims, saying President Trump steered the deal to Microsoft because of his "personal vendetta" against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post, which Bezos owns. The judge said this month that Amazon is "likely to succeed" in its court fight, per Politico.

The Pentagon said it wants to take another look at parts of the deal but didn't agree that Trump had any role in its decision. Technical issues listed in the suit will be reviewed in the next 120 days, the filing said, as will a method the government used in pricing and its assessment of online marketplace offerings by Microsoft and Amazon. Amazon welcomed the filing, saying the Pentagon "has acknowledged 'substantial and legitimate' issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary." Microsoft cast the review more narrowly, endorsing the "decision to reconsider a small number of factors as it is likely the fastest way to resolve all issues." The JEDI deal could be worth as much as $10 billion over 10 years. (Other companies had complained during the awarding process.)

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