The U.S. Defense Department said on Friday it has completed a comprehensive re-evaluation of its $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract proposals and determined that Microsoft Corp’s submission continues to represent the best value for the government.
Despite the reaffirmed award to Microsoft, the contract remains on hold after a judge in February granted Amazon.com Inc’s request to temporarily halt the deal from moving forward. Amazon argued the contract process reflected undue influence from President Donald Trump.
Amazon, which had been seen as a front-runner to win the contract, filed a lawsuit in November just weeks after the contract was awarded to Microsoft. Trump has publicly derided Amazon head Jeff Bezos and repeatedly criticized the company.
Amazon did not immediately comment on the Pentagon decision.
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract could reach as much as $10 billion and is part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon aimed at making it more technologically agile.
(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)