This item probably didn't get your attention lately unless you follow federal government contracts, are an investor in the tech sector or are a techie. Amazon and Microsoft are leading vendors in the hot emerging cloud computing business. For the non-techie, cloud computing is Internet-accessible computing services. Instead of a business building its own computing facilities and staffing them, they effectively rent them as needed, and the cloud vendor handles the underlying hardware acquisition, staffing, operation and maintenance issues These services can easily upscale their computing capability or provide server/data redundancy and/or geographic diversification (say, in the event of a local natural disaster). This is a bit of an oversimplification, because the customer has flexibility in the selection of services and can also deploy a mixed/hybrid strategy. For example, it could maintain its own on-site IT production facilities and use the cloud for redundancy purposes rather than build out its own geographically diverse facilities.
What a lot of people don't realize that Internet seller Amazon has been the leading clouding computing business, known as AWS, for some time. It has mixed it up with other vendors like Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Services. Now here's where Trump comes into play. Amazon founder/executive Jeff Bezos some time back acquired the Washington Post newspaper, a high-profile critic of the Trump Administration. Trump and Bezos have been feuding since 2015, with thin-skinned Trump bashing Bezos using leftist tax-dodging talking points. (As if Trump's own tax records are beyond dispute...)
So the Pentagon had put up a lucrative up to $10B 10-year JEDI contract, ultimately between AWS and Azure. Amazon believes that Trump improperly influenced the eventual award of the contract to Microsoft and filed a protest in court. In the interim the Pentagon inspector general did not find compelling evidence of wrongdoing, but it did note that the Trump Administration wasn't cooperative in the investigation (surprise, surprise). So the Pentagon has scrapped JEDI citing changing needs and reopened bidding between Amazon and Microsoft. (It has opened up the possibility of considering other vendors, but note those two are the most qualified.)
AWS has specifically objected to the award, charging several evaluation errors on the Microsoft bid, including a more cost-competitive bid by Amazon:
AWS is honored to support our nation’s military, and extremely proud of our role in helping U.S. government customers achieve mission success. Today, over 6,500 government agencies rely on the AWS Cloud to achieve an unmatched level of security, agility, innovation, and reliability... AWS is the clear leader in cloud computing, and by any objective measure, has superior technology. AWS has more services, and more features within those services, than any other cloud provider—by a large amount. AWS provides a more secure and more operationally performant offering, and remains the only cloud provider accredited to support the full range of U.S. government data classifications. AWS also has a much broader ecosystem of ISV and SaaS partners whose software runs on AWS,
I'm not sure what the proof AWS has in saying "On JEDI, President Trump reportedly ordered former Secretary Mattis to “screw’” Amazon, blatantly interfered in an active procurement, directed his subordinate to conduct an unorthodox “review” prior to a contract award announcement and then stonewalled an investigation into his own political interference." However, there is a podcast you can Google that "A former speechwriter for former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that President Trump wanted to “screw over” Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post." And Trump has certainly implied that his own political self-interest has played a role in decision making:"I hear the maneuverability is one of the big factors that you were chosen for the contract. The other is your location in Wisconsin, if you want to know the truth." Not to mention, of course, Trump wanted Ukraine dirt on political rival Joe Biden before releasing Ukraine military aid, already passed into law, the key fact underlying his first impeachment.
