Amazon seeks restraining order on Pentagon’s $10 billion contract with Microsoft

The U.S Department of Defense had announced its plans of increasing efforts towards ensuring better, easier, and efficient access for the U.S military to technology and data from remote locations in 2019. The contract worth $10 billion was named Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI). Thanks to Amazon’s impeccable cloud computing services, the tech giant was widely anticipated to end up winning the Pentagon’s project. Pentagon’s announcement of choosing Microsoft for the contract towards the end of the year, however, had left Amazon and analysts in an utter shock.

Amazon Finds It Imperative To Review Political Interference In Pentagon’s Decision

Right after the Pentagon’s decision, Amazon expressed its disappointment and branded the decision as biased as it announced plans of filing against the decision in the U.S court of law. As per the recent development, Amazon declared on Wednesday that a claim has been registered in the court that seeks to prevent Microsoft Corp and the U.S Department of Justice from moving ahead with the formerly announced contract unless the court releases its final verdict regarding Amazon’s protest against the Pentagon’s decision.  

Amazon had expressed its plan of seeking a restraining order from the U.S court that prevents its rival to begin working on the defense department’s project in the past week. In a recent statement, Amazon Web Services was reported quoting that it is well within the U.S law to request a halt on a contract unless a court decides in favor of or against the protests. It further stated that it is imperative to thoroughly evaluate and review the political interference and relevant errors that contributed to Pentagon’s biased decision.  

Jeff Bezos Accuses President Trump Of Inappropriately Interfering In Pentagon’s Decision

According to the sources, owing to the legal complaints including an allegation of conflict of interest, the procurement process is likely to be postponed. Only recently, Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, had blatantly accused President Trump to have inappropriately interfered in the Pentagon’s decision citing his long-held bias against the tech giant.

Mark Esper, the current defense secretary, on the other hand, has responded with a statement that rejects all claims of bias in Pentagon’s decision. Esper further expressed confidence that the process of selection was entirely free from external influence and that the decision was take in all fairness.

The recent development saw Amazon’s stock drop by a little less than 1% in the stock market on Wednesday. Closing 2019 at around $1,900 in the stock market, Amazon recorded a growth of around 40% last year.