Money
Microsoft challenges Amazon NSA cloud contract
Microsoft has filed a protest against the National Security Agency in the US, challenging its award of a cloud computing contract
Microsoft is disputing the NSA’s decision to award the $10 billion contract to Amazon.
The NSA contract to Amazon comes on the heels of the Pentagon’s decision to cancel its $10 billion cloud contract.
A Microsoft spokesperson released a statement stating:
“Based on the decision we are filing an administrative protest via the Government Accountability Office. We are exercising our legal rights and will do so carefully and responsibly.”
Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing unit, referred questions to the NSA.
The lucrative JEDI cloud contract was intended to modernise the Pentagon’s IT operations for services rendered over as many as 10 years.
Did Trump have a role to play?
A month later, AWS filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims protesting the JEDI decision.
The company argued former President Donald Trump’s bias against Amazon and its then-CEO, Jeff Bezos, influenced the Pentagon to give the contract to Microsoft.
Last year, the Pentagon’s inspector general released a report saying the award didn’t appear to be influenced by the White House.