The US military remains with Microsoft on a $10 billion cloud contract.

The US Department of Defense said Friday it is sticking to its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, despite Amazon’s claims that President Donald Trump improperly influenced the process.

After a second look at the proposals for the “JEDI” cloud computing contract, the Pentagon again concluded that Microsoft is the preferred choice.

“Microsoft’s proposal still represents the best value for the government,” the department said in a statement, adding that it is “eager to deliver this opportunity to our men and women in uniform.”

However, the contract cannot go through yet because a federal court order has placed it on hold as Amazon files a lawsuit over how the bidding was handled, the Pentagon noted.

“We appreciate the DoD’s careful review confirming that we’ve offered the right technology and the best price,” Microsoft said.

“We are ready to go to work ensuring that those who serve our country have access to this much-needed technology.”

The 10-year Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program will eventually ensure that all military departments share information in a cloud-based system fueled by artificial intelligence.

Amazon has claimed it was excluded from the deal due to Trump’s vendetta against the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos.

The entrepreneur, who also owns The Washington Post, has been a frequent target of the US president, who claims the paper is biased against him.

Amazon is asking Trump and other top officials for testimonials about the reasons for awarding the lucrative deal to Microsoft.

Amazon claimed in a blog post that the DoD’s bid re-evaluation was a “do-over” to get Microsoft to fix a flawed proposal so that US officials could “validate a flawed, biased and politically corrupt decision.”

“There is a recurring pattern in the way President Trump behaves when he is called upon to do something blatant: first he denies having done it, then he looks for ways to push it aside, to divert attention from it. and attempts to delay the investigation. it,” Amazon said in the post.

“And then he ends up doubling the flagrant act anyway.”

Amazon has been considered the top contender to provide technology for JEDI, with Amazon Web Services dominating the cloud computing arena and the company already providing classified servers to other government agencies, including the CIA.

Amazon argued in court documents that the Pentagon’s choice of Microsoft was puzzling, if not because of Trump’s repeated “determination to, in the president’s own words, “fuck Amazon.”

The protest filed in the US Court of Federal Claims urges the rival JEDI’s bids to be re-evaluated.

Source: AFP