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Pentagon Awards Microsoft $10B Cloud Computing Contract

Associated Press

   SAN FRANCISCO - The Pentagon awarded Microsoft a $10 billion cloud
   computing contract , snubbing early front-runner Amazon, whose
   competitive bid drew criticism from President Donald Trump and its
   business rivals.

   Bidding for the huge project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense
   Infrastructure, or JEDI, pitted leading tech titans Microsoft, Amazon,
   Oracle and IBM against one another.

   The giant contract has attracted more attention than most, sparked by
   speculation early in the process that Amazon would be the sole winner
   of the deal. Tech giants Oracle and IBM pushed back with their own bids
   and also formally protested the bidding process last year.

   Oracle later challenged the process in federal court, but lost .

   Trump waded into the fray in July, saying that the administration would
   "take a very long look" at the process, saying he had heard complaints.
   Trump has frequently expressed his ire for Amazon and founder Jeff
   Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post. At the time, he said other
   companies told him that the contract "wasn't competitively bid."

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