The Defense Department urged a federal judge to grant its motion—filed in March— for a 120-day remand to reconsider the evaluation for its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract.
In a legal filing April 3, Justice Department attorneys representing the Pentagon said Amazon Web Services seeks a “do-over” of the JEDI contract Microsoft ultimately won in October.
In late March, AWS—which is protesting the JEDI cloud contract award—asked Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith to deny the Pentagon’s motion for a four-month remand over its narrow focus, accusing the Pentagon of attempting to “gerrymander” revisions to the evaluation. AWS wants the Pentagon to address a host of potential evaluation flaws beyond the specific pricing scenario the department has agreed to correct.
In its April 3 filing, the Pentagon stated its proposed remand is “in good faith to reconsider its evaluation and source selection decisions.”
“Our proposed remand treats both offerors equally and fairly, and is well-tailored to address the issues in this case while preserving the integrity of the competition that has already taken place,” the Defense Department said in the filing.
The Pentagon added that its “proposed limitations” are necessary, providing AWS and Microsoft “with an equal chance to revise their proposals in a way that will eliminate any lack of clarity and allow offerors to put their best foot forward.”
The filing is the latest in a back and forth between the two tech giants and the Pentagon over its JEDI contract, which could be worth up to $10 billion over the next 10 years if all options are exercised. Through it, officials hope to link together worldwide military systems at all classification levels from various military departments into a single, unified architecture.
As it stands, Campbell-Smith issued a temporary restraining order on the JEDI contract in February, indefinitely prohibiting any formative work between Microsoft and the Defense Department. In the coming weeks, Campbell-Smith is expected to determine whether to grant the Pentagon’s proposed remand as requested.
In a statement, Microsoft—which has intervened in the case—said through spokesperson Frank Shaw that “Amazon’s endless challenges to DoD’s decision show their disregard for what is best for US taxpayers, and demonstrates they are putting their own interests ahead of those of the warfighters who need new technology now.”
Amazon did not respond to request for comment.
source: NextGov
