Amazon is looking to escalate its discontent with the results of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract recently awarded to Microsoft.
According to a report from CNN Business, Amazon filed a new motion to, “prevent the issuance of substantive task orders under the contract.” If ultimately granted, Amazon could effectively put a halt on Microsoft’s scheduled contracted work on February 11, 2020.
The new court filing comes as a continued protest from Amazon Web Service division who has levied claims of impartiality on part of the Department of Defense and White House in awarding the JEDI contract to Microsoft.
DoD’s substantial and pervasive errors are hard to understand and impossible to assess separate and apart from the President’s repeatedly expressed determination to, in the words of the President himself, ‘screw Amazon.’ Basic justice requires re-evaluation of proposal and a new award decision.
The JEDI contract has been marred in controversy from the beginning with a previous suit brought against Amazon and the DoD by Oracle for conflict of interest charges followed by public disclosure from the sitting US President of intervening in the process with additional review scrutiny.
Both Amazon and Microsoft have previously done business with the Pentagon and DoD to varying degrees, but the JEDI contract arguably represents a much larger public investment in the viability of the companies’ respective cloud infrastructures to support sensitive and timely data.
While some may argue the damage Amazon’s continued attacks on the presidency, Department of Defense and Microsoft will have with any on-going or future partnerships with AWS from the government, outright losing this contract would be a significant blow to market mindshare Amazon can’t afford to lose as more businesses look to choose between AWS and Azure.
