The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has completed a comprehensive re-evaluation of its $10bn Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) cloud computing contract proposals and determined that Microsoft’s submission still represents the best value for the government.
Despite the reaffirmed award to Microsoft, the contract remains on hold after a judge in February granted Amazon’s request to temporarily halt the deal from moving forward. Amazon argued the contract process reflected undue influence from President Donald Trump.
The Pentagon said Friday:
“The Department has completed its comprehensive re-evaluation of the JEDI Cloud proposals and determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the Government,”
“The JEDI Cloud contract is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that will make a full range of cloud computing services available to the DoD. While contract performance will not begin immediately due to the Preliminary Injunction Order issued by the Court of Federal Claims on February 13, 2020, DoD is eager to begin delivering this capability to our men and women in uniform.”
Amazon, which had been seen as a frontrunner to win the contract, filed a lawsuit in November weeks after the contract was awarded to Microsoft. Trump has publicly derided Amazon head Jeff Bezos and repeatedly criticised the company.
In April, the judge overseeing the suit granted the Pentagon’s request to halt further action on the lawsuit to allow it to reconsider aspects of the decision.
Microsoft said it appreciated “that after careful review, the DoD confirmed that we offered the right technology and the best value. We’re ready to get to work.”
The JEDI contract could reach as much as $10bn and is part of a broader digital modernisation of the Pentagon aimed at making it more technologically agile.
The Amazon lawsuit said the 2019 Pentagon decision was full of “egregious errors”, which it suggested were a result of “improper pressure from Trump, who launched repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks” to steer the contract away from Amazon to harm Bezos.
As well as deriding the Amazon head, Trump has accused the Washington Post newspaper, owned by Bezos, of unfair coverage.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has rejected that there was bias and said the Pentagon made its choice fairly.
