In this June 19, 2017, file photo President Donald Trump, left, and Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, center, listen as Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, speaks during an American Technology Council roundtable. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Amazon’s JEDI Protest Centers on Trump
In July, the president made highly unusual remarks about the competition for the giant cloud-computing contract.
It appears President Donald Trump will be a central figure in Amazon’s legal protest against the Defense Department’s October decision to award its massive Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to rival Microsoft.
On Friday, Amazon filed a legal protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging politics wrongfully influenced the Pentagon’s decision to award Microsoft the JEDI contract, which could be worth up to $10 billion over the next decade.
In the lawsuit, filed under seal, Amazon notified the court it intends to use four videos as exhibits, including two featuring Trump making negative remarks about Amazon. Another video features Fox News host Tucker Carlson asking Trump in July to stop the Pentagon from giving the contract to Amazon.
“We also believe it's critical for our country that the government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in a manner that is free from political influence,” an Amazon spokesperson told Nextgov, reiterating a statement the company provided in early November upon announcing its intent to file the lawsuit. “Numerous aspects of the JEDI evaluation process contained clear deficiencies, errors, and unmistakable bias—and it’s important that these matters be examined and rectified."
Amazon and Microsoft were the last two companies vying for JEDI after a lengthy contracting process that has already featured three legal protests—one from IBM and two from Oracle—though bids from the latter two companies did not meet the Defense Department’s threshold for evaluation.
JEDI is considered one of the Pentagon’s most important contracts in years and through it, officials hope to link together worldwide military systems at all classification levels from various military departments into a single, unified architecture. The contract has generated significant controversy, with Trump wading into the battle over the summer, saying he was “looking into” JEDI after hearing complaints from Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.
In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company was prepared to begin work under JEDI, though it is unclear how the lawsuit will impact the contract. On Friday, Microsoft filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, giving it an opportunity to participate in court proceedings.
“We’re ready to get to work so the men and women in uniform who serve our country can access the critical new technology they urgently require,” the Microsoft spokesperson said. “We have confidence in the qualified staff at the Department of Defense, and we believe the facts will show they ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft.”
Pentagon officials have repeatedly defended the integrity of the JEDI award. On Oct. 29, Pentagon tech chief Dana Deasy told Senate lawmakers the decision wasn’t influenced by Trump’s personal politics or other outsiders.