Texas residents who follow the technology sector might know that a fierce legal battle is waging over the Department of Defense’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project. The DOD awarded the coveted $10 billion project to Microsoft Corporation in October 2019, which surprised industry experts and prompted objections from Amazon Web Services. AWS was seen as the front-runner to earn the 10-year project, and it believes that Microsoft was the beneficiary of mistakes and political meddling.
AWS filed a motion on Jan. 22 seeking to prevent Microsoft from working on the JEDI project while its legal challenge is being litigated. An AWS representative said that injunctions are often sought in such situations. President Trump has often criticized the online retailer and its CEO Jeff Bezos, and AWS believes that he may have pressured the DOD to award the contract to Microsoft.
The JEDI project is a major part of a government program that aims to move much of the federal IT infrastructure to the cloud. Most industry insiders believe that AWS was on the verge of being awarded the contract when a surprise decision was made to review the bidding process. AWS believes that the decision was made because of pressure from President Trump. Microsoft claims that it earned the contract fairly and has the technology to meet the DOD’s requirements. The company says that it is eager to begin work on the JEDI project and has not responded publicly to the legal challenge.
Attorneys with experience in business litigation may seek injunctions when their clients have valid legal claims and time is of the essence. An injunction could temporarily halt a contract to give the court time to determine the merits of a legal challenge. When an injunction is granted, attorneys may recommend that the parties involved use the time constructively by entering into settlement negotiations.
