Amazon asks court to pause Microsoft's work on Pentagon's $10 billion contract

Amazon had indicated last week that it would file a temporary restraining order

LONDON: Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it filed a motion in court to pause the US Department of Defense and Microsoft Corp from carrying out an up to $10 billion cloud computing deal until a court rules on its protest of the contract award.

Amazon, originally considered to be the favorite to win the award, had indicated last week that it would file a temporary restraining order to require the Pentagon and Microsoft to hold off beyond initial activities for the contract.



Known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud, or JEDI, the contract is intended to give the military better access to data and technology from remote locations.



In a statement, Amazon’s cloud division Amazon Web Services said, “It is common practice to stay contract performance while a protest is pending, and it’s important that the numerous evaluation errors and blatant political interference that impacted the JEDI award decision be reviewed.”