Amazon plans Pentagon cloud lawsuit

Amazon.com Inc. has given notice that it will file a lawsuit challenging the Defense Department’s decision to award Microsoft Corp. a cloud computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion over a decade.

The e-commerce giant plans to lodge its complaint against the contract in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Amazon confirmed. The Seattle company’s challenge was earlier reported by the Federal Times. A representative for the Defense Department said the agency wouldn’t speculate on potential litigation.

Oracle Corp. is also mounting a legal challenge to the cloud contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. The project is designed to consolidate the Defense Department’s cloud computing infrastructure and modernize its technology systems.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement that the procurement was tainted by bias and evaluation deficiencies.

“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,” he said. “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.”

The Defense Department is grappling with dueling allegations that political interference may have helped or hurt Amazon’s chances of winning the contract. Some lawmakers questioned whether President Donald Trump unfairly intervened in the process against Amazon. Trump has long been at odds with Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

Trump surprised the industry earlier this year when he openly questioned whether the contract was being competitively bid, citing complaints from Microsoft, Oracle and IBM Corp.

The Defense Department in late October awarded the contract to Microsoft, an upset victory for a company initially viewed as a distant second to Amazon in the market for cloud computing services.