Amazon.com hasn't given up on winning the $10 billion contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud computing contract awarded to rival Microsoft Corporation by the Pengaton last Oct. 25.
Amazon, whose Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs on a metered pay-as-you-go basis, had won the contract but Oracle Corporation contested the awarding of the contract to AWS citing of conflicts of interest. A senior judge at the United States Court of Federal Claims then placed the contract award on hold. The Pentagon later astounded everyone by awarding the JEDI contract to Microsoft.
AWS is the undisputed market leader in cloud-based services, accounting for 47.8% of the 2018 IaaS (information as a service) public cloud services market share, according to global research firm Gartner, Inc. Microsoft, which is second behind AWS has a market share of 15.5%.
On Nov. 22, Amazon filed a lawsuit in federal court contesting the September decision by the Department of Defense to award the JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft. While Amazon didn't reveal the precise reasons for its lawsuit, it likely claimed the Pentagon's decision-making included "unmistakable bias" and "political influence" by President Donald Trump, a foe of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos owns the anti-Trump newspaper, The Washington Post.
Amazon is alleging Trump's hatred of Bezos, and therefore Amazon, pushed the Pentagon to award the JEDI contract to Microsoft instead of the "rightful" winner, in this case, Amazon.
Bezos on Sunday said Amazon will continue to support the Pentagon.
"We are going to support the Department of Defense, this country is important," according to Bezos at an annual defense forum at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
He also his "view is that if big tech is turning their back on the Department of Defense, this country is in big trouble."
As for the Amazon lawsuit, secretary of defense Mark Esper previously said he was sure the JEDI contract was "conducted freely and fairly." For its part, Microsoft told Reuters the defense department's process was "detailed, thorough and fair."
Amazon is also pursuing a protective order since the lawsuit includes classified information that might lead to "severe competitive harm" to both sides of the case.
