Judge stands alongside Pentagon and Amazon in cloud auction file



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A federal judge dismissed charges that a $ 10 billion deal in cloud computing with the Pentagon had been rigged to favor Amazon.

Friday's decision rejecting Oracle's claims allows the Department of Defense to award the contract to one of two finalists: Amazon or Microsoft.

It will be a boon for any company to manage the 10-year computer project, which the US military considers essential to maintain its technological edge over its adversaries and to accelerate its use of artificial intelligence at war.

Oracle and IBM were eliminated in a previous round, but Oracle persisted with a court challenge claiming conflicts of interest.

Judge Eric Bruggink, of the Federal Court of Claims, said Friday that Oracle could not show favoritism because it did not meet the requirements of the project. Bruggink also sided with the decision of a Pentagon contracting officer that there were no "conflicts of organizational interests" or individual conflicts that would have harmed the auction.

Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith praised the judge's order, saying it reaffirmed the Pentagon's stance that the "bidding process" was conducted as a fair, complete and open competition, which the contracting officer and his team performed according to law ".

Smith said that the army "has an urgent need" to set up cloud services. The Pentagon plans to choose a supplier from August 23rd.

Formally referred to as the Joint Defense Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) plan, the Army Computing Project would store and process large amounts of classified data, thus allowing the Pentagon to maintain its capabilities. use artificial intelligence to speed up his planning and fighting abilities. The initial contract starts at $ 1 million, but expects up to $ 10 billion over the course of the partnership.

Amazon was considered one of the first favorites when the Pentagon began specifying its cloud needs in 2017, but rivals accused executives of Amazon and the Pentagon of being too comfortable.

Oracle had its last chance to argue against Amazon – and the integrity of the government's bid process – during Wednesday's pleadings. The judge ruled two days later.

Oracle spokeswoman, Deborah Hellinger, did not address the decision in a statement Friday, but said the company was eager to collaborate with the Department of Defense and other agencies .

Some members of Congress have expressed concern over reports of favoritism towards Amazon. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said in an email that the Pentagon should restart the tendering process and rewrite its proposal.

"The Department of Defense should, at the very least, wait until the Inspector General has had the opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation and report on his findings," said Grassley.

In addition to the conflict concerns, the project was criticized by the Pentagon's decision to award the entire 10-year contract to a supplier, instructing only one private company to store and secure as much secret data.

Murli Thirumale, CEO of the cloud-based start-up Portworx, said that a decade is a "life" in technology, and that trusting a single provider could limit innovation .

"Making a 10-year bet is far too problematic," said Thirumale, who said his company was a business partner with IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft, but had no direct financial interest in the deal. "You may not have access to the best and brightest technologies."

In a statement, Amazon said that she "stood ready to support and serve" the mission of the Ministry of Defense. He called Oracle's objections to unsubstantiated and his contention claims of "tabloid sensationalism".

Last month, General Bradford Shwedo, Air Force officer of the Chief of the Air Staff, declared in court that further delays in the Oracle case "would hinder our critical efforts in fight against counterfeiting ", while the United States is trying to maintain its position. advantage over opponents who "use data weapons". Shwedo said JEDI's computing capabilities could help the US analyze the data collected by surveillance aircraft, predict when equipment needs to be serviced, and speed up communications in the event of failed connections. optical fiber and satellite.

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