Amazon Continues Legal Fight For $10B JEDI Contract, Says Award To Microsoft A 'Politically Corrupted Decision'

Amazon Inc’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) cloud division AWS has not given up on the fight to reclaim the $10 billion defense deal from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Reuters reports.

Microsoft received a contract for the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud deal last year from the Pentagon.

What Happened: Reportedly, the AWS unit urged the Judge to invalidate the contract award to Microsoft.

Reuters quoted AWS saying that the contract should “be invalidated because it is the product of systematic bias, bad faith, and undue influence exerted by President Trump to steer the award away.”

The e-commerce giant's cloud unit dubbed the award to Microsoft as a “flawed and politically corrupted decision.”

Amazon filed a redacted complaint in the last week of October, which was unsealed yesterday, according to Bloomberg.

The publication quoted Amazon spokesperson Drew Herdener’s statement that Amazon made an offer, which was “the lowest-priced bid by tens of millions of dollars.” Herdener added that “We had made clear that unless the DoD addressed all of the defects in its initial decision, we would continue to pursue a fair and objective review, and that’s exactly where we find ourselves today.”

Why Does It Matter: After a ruling in favor of Amazon in February this year, the contract was temporarily put on hold, followed by an April ruling to reevaluate the contract.

However, the DoD reaffirmed its decision in September to award the contract to Microsoft.

Amazon’s stated in its filing that, “The net result -- a technical reevaluation in which Microsoft marginally came out on top -- is riddled with errors even more egregious than those that plagued the initial award,” quotes Bloomberg. 

Price Action: On Tuesday, AMZN shares closed 0.26% higher at $3,165.12, and MSFT dipped 0.03% to $214.13.

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