Patricia Campbell-Smith, a Federal Claims Judge at the US Court, said Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is likely to win its case against the decision of the US Department of Defense (DOD) in awarding a prestigious $10 billion Cloud Computing JEDI contract to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Issues an order to halt the work on the JEDI contract
Patricia has issued an order to halt the work on the JEDI contract on February 13, 2020, amid a lawsuit filed by Amazon, citing irregularities in awarding the contract. Amazon alleges that the contract is awarded to Microsoft on undue influence by President Donald Trump. However, the judge’s opinion has not mentioned any of these and focuses on the assessment of Microsoft’s Data Storage by the Pentagon on the price scenario. An order to halt the work on the project is a disappointment for the Pentagon, which expected to start the work on February 13, 2020.
Amazon could win the case
Patricia said Amazon could win the case because the US DOD has improperly evaluated the bid. Amazon expects to prove that the scenario presented by Microsoft is not technically feasible.
Frank X. Shaw could continue the project
Frank X. Shaw, a spokesperson of Microsoft, said the company expects to continue the work on the project because the present argument relies on a lone technical finding of data storage by the DOD. It is just one price scenario out of the six. According to the government assessment, the solution offered by the Microsoft complies with the technical standards and offers excellent performance. However, Patricia said the failure of the DOD to assess one price scenario correctly is vital for the case.
Amazon files a lawsuit in November 2019
Amazon filed a lawsuit in November 2019 within weeks after the $10 billion JEDI contract is awarded erroneously to Microsoft. It has got all the credentials and technical capability to execute the project. The lawsuit tells that the decision of DOD to award the contract to Microsoft is full of errors because of the pressure from Donald Trump.
If executed, the JEDI contract gives the US military the best access to technology and data from remote locations.
