- Amazon reacted to the Pentagon inspector general's decision to clear Microsoft's $10 JEDI contract win by criticizing the Trump administration's refusal to cooperate fully with the review.
- The Department of Defense watchdog found the Pentagon's decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to Microsoft proper and consistent with the agency's rules and standards.
- But the watchdog also said the Trump administration restricted its ability to interview witnesses on Amazon's claim that the president personally interfered in the bid process.
- "The White House's refusal to cooperate with the IG's investigation is yet another blatant attempt to avoid a meaningful and transparent review of the JEDI contract award," an Amazon spokesman said in an email.
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Amazon blasted the White House for what it describes as a "blatant attempt" to block a probe of President Trump's role in choosing Microsoft as the winner of the enormous cloud computing contract, JEDI.
The Pentagon's decision to award the contract to Microsoft late last year was a stunning blow to Amazon, which has claimed that Trump interfered in the process because of personal disdain for CEO Jeff Bezos.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon inspector general cleared the Defense Department's decision to award the $10 billion JEDI contract to Microsoft, but also said that the team couldn't fully investigate Amazon's allegation about Trump's role because the White House barred key witnesses from cooperating.
"The White House's refusal to cooperate with the IG's (inspector general) investigation is yet another blatant attempt to avoid a meaningful and transparent review of the JEDI contract award," an Amazon spokesman said in a statement emailed to the Business Insider.
Amazon also downplayed the report's conclusion that the Pentagon's decision was consistent with the Department of Defense's standards and rules, and criticized it for failing to mention a federal judge's statements critical of the bid process in March.
"This report doesn't tell us much," the Amazon spokesperson said. "It says nothing about the merits of the award, which we know are highly questionable based on the Judge's recent statements and the government's request to go back and take corrective action."
In March, a judge said that the DOD may have improperly evaluated Microsoft's proposal and that Amazon's "chance of securing the award was not insubstantial absent the error."
The JEDI (or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) contract aims to build a major public cloud that will store sensitive US military and defense information.
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