A federal judge has agreed to temporarily block Microsoft from starting work on a Pentagon contract after Amazon filed a formal protest.
The ruling will hinder Microsoft from beginning work on the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar cloud computing contract after Amazon Web Services filed a protest over its handling of the contract process.
While details of the decision by Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith in the US Court of Federal Claims remains under seal, the halt order resulted in increased pressure on the US government as it defends against e-commerce giant Amazon's claims.
According to Amazon, US President Donald Trump allegedly exercised undue influence over the Defense Department as it evaluated competing bids from Microsoft and Amazon for the cloud computing project dubbed Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI.
Amazon referred to President Trump's public tweets as evidence that he sought to deny Amazon the contract due to a personal animosity toward its chief executive officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos.
An Amazon spokesperson said: "President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his position as President and Commander in Chief to interfere with government functions – including federal procurements – to advance his personal agenda."
"The preservation of public confidence in the nation’s procurement process requires discovery and supplementation of the administrative record, particularly in light of President Trump’s order to ‘screw Amazon.’ The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends," the spokesperson added.
Amazon earlier this week asked the court for permission to gather testimony from Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Defense Secretary James Mattis. A decision on that request is expected within weeks.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has expressed disappointment over the court ruling. Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw said: "While we are disappointed with the additional delay we believe that we will ultimately be able to move forward with the work to make sure those who serve our country can access the new technology they urgently require."
"We have confidence in the Department of Defense, and we believe the facts will show they ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft," Shaw added.
