Amazon Files Lawsuit Over Microsoft's JEDI Contract With Pentagon Amid Bias Allegations

Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing branch of online retailer Amazon, said Friday that the company has filed a lawsuit challenging Microsoft's $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) deal with the Pentagon. There has been public controversy over the Pentagon's bidding process for the contract, with Amazon believing that it was biased against the e-commerce giant.

Amazon Web Services said in a statement that "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 has told the Court of Federal Claims that the company plans to use four videos as exhibits in the suit, including one where a host on Fox News attempted to convince Trump to not award the contract to Amazon.

Trump's personal issues with Amazon could've played a role in the bidding process. He allegedly told former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in 2018 to "screw Amazon" on the contract, a book by former Defense communications director Guy Snodgrass reported.

Trump has frequently criticized the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, calling it "fake news" for its coverage of his administration. He has also alleged that Amazon is scamming the U.S. postal service.

Tech giant Oracle, which also participated in the bidding process, claimed that multiple employees in the Department of Defense (DoD) had conflicts of interest with Amazon. Oracle, along with IBM, were kicked out of the process in April by the DoD.

Microsoft was offered the JEDI contract in October, but some employees at the company have advised against the project in the past. An open letter by some Microsoft employees in 2018 said that "We need to put JEDI in perspective. This is a secretive $10 billion project with the ambition of building 'a more lethal' military force overseen by the Trump Administration."