Amazon could protest JEDI decision next week
Microsoft won the $10 billion Pentagon contract after President Trump said he wanted to "screw" Amazon out of the bid
Amazon could raise a legal challenge to its loss of the $10 billion JEDI contract next week, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon announced Microsoft as the winner of the tender yesterday, despite AWS being a favourite. The bidding process also included Oracle and IBM, both of which complained about the process earlier this year.
Legal experts expect a challenge to come soon, boosted by the recent news that US President Donald Trump had ordered the Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, to "screw Amazon" out of the contract. He also raised concerns about the process in July this year.
"I'm getting tremendous complaints about the contract with the Pentagon and with Amazon... They're saying it wasn't competitively bid," Trump said over the summer. "Some of the greatest companies in the world are complaining about it... I will be asking them to look at it very closely to see what's going on."
Before Trump, who has a long history of attacking Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos, got involved, Amazon was widely seen as the leading vendor in the tender process.
AWS said it was ‘surprised' about the decision, and a source told Reuters that the company is now considering its options.
These options, experts have said, boil down to two realistic scenarios: AWS can go to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), which could offer a fast resolution; and/or it could take its complaint to the Court of Federal Claims, which could provide time to build more evidence. It could also go straight to the Department of Defense, but this is unlikely.
The company has until Friday to request a debriefing, in which the US government would explain why its bid was unsuccessful; it then has five calendar days to file a protest with the GAO.
If AWS is unhappy with the GAO's decision, it can go to the Court of Federal Claims - or skip the GAO altogether. However, it could get an automatic stay of performance by going to the GAO, giving the Office 100 days to make a decision. It would not get the stay by going to court.
Some of the attorneys and analysts said it is likely AWS will protest the decision, if only to show it is serious about its government contracting business.