US judge puts Amazon's challenge to Pentagon JEDI deal into force stasis
- Reference: 1587388584
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/20/us_judge_deploys_freeze_beam/
- Source link:
[1]PDF
on Amazon's legal challenge to the $10bn Pentagon Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to give the military time to "reconsider... aspects of the procurement" in the mega-contract.Microsoft was awarded the winner-takes-all 10-year contract to provide cloud computing services to the US Department of Defense (DoD) [2]in October last year . AWS challenged the decision in court, and [3]on 13 February was granted an injunction by the Court of Federal Claims, which means that work on the contract is paused.
The contract itself requires one supplier to spend 10 years hauling the Pentagon onto cloud-based platforms as part of the DoD Digital Modernization Strategy. Earlier in the process, before Microsoft won the bid, Oracle and some of its cloud supplier pals had argued that [4]the single bidder requirement was a "conflict-ridden mess" where only "the two largest global cloud providers can clear the qualification gates."
The new order, made on Friday and filed at the weekend, puts AWS's challenge to the deal being awarded to Microsoft on ice until 17 August, although if the review is delivered sooner or later, the date will be amended.
The judge's order comes just days after the DoD's inspector general issued a 317-page report
[5]PDF
stating the Defense Department had [6]followed procedure , although it did note that Amazon's claim - [7]hastily filed in November - is based on confidential information accidentally leaked by a DoD official.AWS alleges that Microsoft won because of "political influence" and "unmistakable bias", and in December 2019, [8]it officially accused US President Donald Trump of applying pressure to the Pentagon not to award the massive IT contract to shift the Pentagon to cloud-based platforms.
Back in March, the court [9]ruled [PDF] that AWS was "likely to demonstrate" that the DoD "improperly evaluated" the Azure giant's proposal, stating:
Specifically the Plaintiff [Amazon] contends that as a result of intervenor-defendant’s “noncompliant storage solution,” DOD “should have found [intervenor-defendant’s] technical approach unfeasible, assigned a deficiency, and eliminated Microsoft from the competition..
In a nutshell, AWS alleged that Microsoft's proposal around a type of online storage offered in "Price Scenario 6", was not technically compliant with the DoD's stated requirements, and should have therefore been pulled out of the running.
[10]The DoD asked for the stay last month. ®
Sponsored: [11]Forrester Build a Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/04/20/stay_amazon_vs_dod_jedi.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/26/microsoft_wins_jedi_deal/
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/14/jedi_appeal/
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/01/oracle_jedi_case_filing/
[5] https://media.defense.gov/2020/Apr/15/2002281438/-1/-1/1/REPORT%20ON%20THE%20JOINT%20ENTERPRISE%20DEFENSE%20INFRASTRUCTURE%20(JEDI)%20CLOUD%20PROCUREMENT%20DODIG-2020-079.PDF
[6] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/15/pentagon_watchdog_jedi/
[7] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/15/amazon_jedi_court_contest/
[8] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/09/jedi_contract_complaint_amazon/
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/04/20/march_opinion_and_order_aws_jedi.pdf
[10] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/13/aws_jedi_microsoft/
[11] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
&.....
Let That Be Their Last Battlefield
Inconceivable
Bill is now The Donald's BFF ?
Re: Inconceivable
Personally I wouldn't trust either of them for urgent mission critical use, as both have broken down too often and services persist only at the whim of the provider..
The whole "cloud" concept is fraught with false assumptions. If you manage cloud services properly they don't save you money, and if you don't they'll fail you. So cloud is not a "cheap option" if you want to survive (as the military typically aim to).
Re: Inconceivable
Really, Cloud doesn’t save you money?
Try telling that to all the companies that can’t ramp up on capacity due to Covid as they are not in the Cloud. I had to wait 1.5 hours to logon to B&Q (UK Retail) this week because the website couldn't handle the load. They are losing 100’s of thousands in revenue as they can’t scale up to meet demand.. Compare that to companies like Netflix, Zoom who can scale up in minutes on AWS, and then back down when they don't need it.
Re: Inconceivable
Wait until Trump hears what Bill thinks of his management of CoVid, and he'll take the contract out of Microsoft's hands too.
I wouldn't tar Amazon with the sam brush as Azure. Microsoft is significantly less reliable and has seen multiple, major outages in recent years
This is pointless and silly.
First, one has to ask which cloud provider is better. They will both claim that they are while Google will claim that it is...
When you consider the capabilities of staff within DOD, DIA, NSA, etc ... why do they need to go to an outside provider?
They could build it themselves for less money.
Oh wait, that would be too easy.
Its like having a guy sitting in the NSA who is an expert on Postfix and setting up a secure mail server.
Instead, the government will go out and hire Microsoft to morph Outlook to do it instead.
And I know the US is not alone in this stupidity. How many articles are in El Reg mocking the NHS and their outsourcing deals?
Or the Aussies? And NZ?
In Praise of AI Universal Space Command with Simple Remote Virtual Controls
Giving military time to look at aspects of decision
Does Uncle Sam and the Military know exactly what they are jumping into bed with for Microsoft JEDI Services Exercising and Energising and EMPowering Almighty Tasks for Future Mediated TeleVisual Presentations/Augmented Virtual Reality Events?
My guess is that they haven't a clue yet, and thus are as easy prey and cannon fodder in the greater schema of things where they can be powerful pawns enabled to tempt bishops and knights and kings and queens in their castles alike.
I suppose the true reply to any of that is Classified Mk Ultra Top Secret/Special Compartmented Information somewhere foreign and alien.
Knowing all of what you know about Microsoft, do you imagine a JEDI Type Program being an Original or Cloned Operation of a Stealthy Gallant Competitor ? They are surely long enough and well enough known for their phishing and phorming proclivities and predilections, are they not?
Star wars Jedi versus Star Trek's Klingons (version 1).
?