Based upon a recent Bloomberg report, Amazon.com squelched IBM’s attempt to put up a bid on a $600 million CIA cloud computing contract, a contract granted already to Amazon. In July of 2013 Amazon sued the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO is responsible, as an agency, to make recommendations and challenge current contracts. In this case, the GAO favored IBM, claiming, “the CIA had failed to properly evaluate prices and had waived a contract requirement for Seattle-based Amazon.” Hence the reason for Amazon suing the agency.
The hearing took place yesterday in Washington at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Judge Thomas Wheeler oversaw the hearing and then provided a judgment after Amazon made the request.
IBM, not surprisingly, expressed disappointment about the ruling from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The company insisted that their bid was “superior” to Amazon’s.
The case is Amazon Web Services Inc. v. U.S., 13-cv-00506, U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Washington).
