SAN FRANCISCO — The Defense Department said on Thursday that it would re-evaluate the awarding of a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft after sustained protest from Amazon, which had contended that it lost the deal because of potential interference from President Trump.
In a legal brief filed to the Court of Federal Claims, the Justice Department requested the reconsideration after Amazon argued in federal court that its offerings and pricing had been incorrectly assessed by the Pentagon. The Defense Department requested 120 days to reassess the award. The judge in the case, Patricia E. Campbell-Smith, is expected to allow the re-evaluation to go forward, though she has not yet made an official ruling.
The reconsideration is the latest twist in the enormous contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, which was considered to be a prize for technology companies.
Amazon, a cloud computing giant, had widely been considered the front-runner to win the contract before it was awarded to Microsoft in October. Amazon then pushed to overturn the decision, arguing that President Trump interfered because of his dispute with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post. The Washington Post has aggressively covered the Trump administration.
Doug Stone, an Amazon spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday that the company was “pleased that the D.O.D. has acknowledged ‘substantial and legitimate’ issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary.” He added that Amazon looked forward to action “that fully insulates the re-evaluation from political influence and corrects the many issues affecting the initial flawed award.”
Still, the decision does not represent a full victory for Amazon, and the Justice Department said in a court filing that the company would oppose the motion to reconsider the contract award. The motion was based on the issue of pricing, and not whether Mr. Trump interfered with the process.
