The protracted saga over a $10 billion Defense Department contract that pits Microsoft and Amazon against each other will be delayed even further. A federal judge on Friday gave the Pentagon 120 days to review parts of the bids for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project. The order pushes legal proceedings out until August 17 unless the government finishes its review early.
- Last year, the Pentagon awarded JEDI to Microsoft in a surprise move that prompted Amazon to file a lawsuit challenging the decision. Amazon claims President Donald Trump’s personal hostility toward the company and its founder, Jeff Bezos, improperly influenced the Defense Department’s decision.
- The judge presiding over the case, Patricia Campbell-Smith, temporarily barred Microsoft and the DoD from moving forward on the project while the matter is hammered out. She said there may have been an error in the evaluations at the time and DoD asked for the opportunity to review it. Campbell-Smith’s order on Friday grants that request.
- The dispute between the two Seattle-area tech giants heated up this week when Microsoft published a blog post claiming Amazon “bid high and lost” the contract because of its pricing.
