‘UNMISTAKABLE BIAS’

Amazon to Challenge Loss of $10 Billion Pentagon Cloud Contract

The company suggested the loss of the contract was a case of “political influence.”

Amazon is challenging the awarding of a huge Pentagon cloud computing contract to Microsoft, calming there was “unmistakable bias” and “political influence” in the selection process. According to CNBC, the company said it filed a notice to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract—worth up to $10 billion—going to another company last month. “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 told CNBC in an email. An Amazon Web Services spokesperson also told NPR that government contracts should be given “objectively and in a manner that is free from political influence.” The Pentagon said they would not “speculate on potential litigation.” Microsoft has not commented publicly on the matter.

President Trump has not been shy about his displeasure with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos or the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post. The president often calls the newspaper the “Amazon Washington Post” in tweets, and claimed the company was avoiding taxes and putting other retailers out of business.