As Amazon challenges the Pentagon's decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, a federal judge found Amazon will likely be able to prove the Department of Defense made an error in evaluating an aspect of Microsoft's proposal — and that the error affected the outcome.
The Department of Defense last year chose Microsoft for its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) deal, a massive cloud project that will store and manage sensitive military and defense data. Amazon is challenging the decision, alleging political intervention — specifically citing President Donald Trump's public clashes with Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos — in the US Court of Federal Claims.
Federal claims judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith in February ordered the Department of Defense to suspend work on the project while the case is ongoing. The preliminary order was unsealed on Friday, and in it, the judge says she believes Amazon will likely be able to prove important aspects of its case, based on the evidence that's been entered in the case so far.
When the Department of Defense solicited bidders for JEDI, a requirement for one aspect of the proposal was for online storage to be "highly accessible." Amazon alleges Microsoft's proposal did not meet that requirement.
That might seem like a small thing, but Amazon alleges it should have been enough to eliminate Microsoft from the competition. The judge said Amazon is likely to be able to prove the DOD improperly evaluated Microsoft's proposal, and that Amazon's "chance of securing the award was not insubstantial absent the error."
Microsoft disagrees
Microsoft argues its proposal does meet the requirement, and the DOD argues Amazon "seeks to elevate superficial labels over technical performance," and that if Microsoft's proposal didn't meet the requirement, neither did Amazon's.
In an email to Business Insider, Microsoft said the judge focused on one small aspect of the JEDI contract, and said Microsoft the Department of Defense carefully evaluated the proposal based on many factors and selected Microsoft's as "significantly superior."
"We have confidence in our technology, our bid, and the professional staff at the Department of Defense. We believe that we will ultimately be able to move forward with the work," Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said in a statement. "Time matters because those who serve our country urgently need access to this essential modern technology."
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