Amazon files lawsuit contesting Pentagon’s decision to award $10bn contract to Microsoft
Amazon has filed a lawsuit contesting the Pentagon’s decision to award an up to $10bn cloud computing contract to Microsoft.
A spokesperson for Amazon said the company had filed a complaint and supplement motional for discovery with the US Court of Federal Claims.
Read more: Amazon to appear Pentagon’s decision to award Microsoft $10bn cloud computing contract
It comes after Microsoft won the 10-year contract for cloud computing with the US Department of Defence, which is intended to modernise the Pentagon.
The project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure or JEDI, is aimed at modernising the data and communication systems within the US military.
“The Complaint and related filings contain source selection sensitive information, as well as AWS’s proprietary information, trade secrets, and confidential financial information, the public release of which would cause either party severe competitive harm,” Amazon said in a court document seeking a protective order.
“The record in this bid protest likely will contain similarly sensitive information.”
US defence secretary Mark Esper rejected that there had been any bias in the Pentagon’s decision after it was revealed Amazon would appeal the decision last week.
Amazon, which already holds a similar contract with the Central Intelligence Agency, had been favourite for the contract.
The company previously claimed that politics affected the outcome after Microsoft’s surprise win.
US President Donald Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have held a long-running dispute, dating back to criticism of Trump in the Washington Post, which is also owned by Bezos.
Read more: Microsoft beats Amazon to Pentagon $10bn cloud computing contract
Trump subsequently threatened to intervene in the bidding process in July, suggesting there had been “tremendous complaints”.
This prompted a delay to the decision by the Pentagon until 25 October when Microsoft was announced as having won the contract.