Amazon Wins Preliminary Order Blocking $10B Cloud Contract Awarded to Microsoft
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge on Thursday issued a sealed preliminary injunction, an early win for Amazon and its lawyers at Morrison & Foerster and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
February 13, 2020 at 03:03 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Morrison & Foerster offices. Credit: ALM
Amazon.com Inc. won a preliminary order Thursday blocking the U.S. Department of Defense from moving forward with a $10 billion cloud-computing contract with rival Microsoft Corp., in a suit that confronts President Donald Trump's public animus toward Amazon and its chief executive Jeff Bezos.
Amazon sued the Defense Department last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, a specialized court that hears government contract cases and other claims seeking monetary damages against the United States. Amazon was among the unsuccessful bidders for the Pentagon's Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract.
Represented by Morrison & Foerster and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Amazon sought a preliminary injunction that would pause any movement by Microsoft to implement the terms of the contract. The Federal Claims court's preliminary injunction was issued under seal Thursday afternoon.
Amazon's lawyers, led by Morrison & Foerster's Kevin Mullen, co-chair of the firm's government contracts and public procurement practice, contend Trump improperly pressured the Pentagon to award the JEDI contract to Microsoft. Amazon's attorneys points to public statements from Trump to "screw Amazon" out of winning the contract. The Pentagon has denied any such bias factored into the decision.
Lawyers from Latham & Watkins—including former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and partners Roman Martinez and Abid Qureshi—represent Microsoft in the Federal Claims court. The company is also represented by Robert Metzger of the Washington litigation boutique Rogers Joseph O'Donnell.
Amazon this week announced its intent to depose Trump as part of the litigation in the Federal Claims court.
"These unfiltered statements straight from the Commander in Chief himself, who has a penchant for making policy via Twitter are critically important to understanding the bias that permeated the procurement process from the top of the chain of command," Amazon's lawyers said in court papers.
A Microsoft spokesperson said Monday in a statement: " We have confidence in the qualified staff at the Department of Defense, and we believe the facts will show they ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft."
Two nonpartisan groups, Protect Democracy and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed friend-of-the-court briefs this week backing Amazon's bid to supplement the administrative record to include statements from Trump about Amazon and Bezos.
"Impartiality is a bedrock of federal ethics and public procurement law. Government officials must be free from bias and conflicts of interest in order to make decisions in the best interest of the government and, by extension, the American taxpayer," Jessica Lutkenhaus of CREW said in a court filing.
Federal Claims Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith is not expected to unseal her ruling at least until Feb. 27, the deadline by which the lawyers in the case must provide the court a proposed redacted version of the ruling.
It's not uncommon for rulings in the Federal Claims court to be issued under seal. Disputes involving government contracts and the procurement process often involve confidential and proprietary business information.
Read more:
Amazon's Lawyers Want to Depose Trump in Suit Over $10B Pentagon Contract
Amazon Confronts Trump's 'Relentless' Criticism in $10B Contract Suit Against Pentagon
Amazon Hires Gibson Dunn, MoFo Teams to Sue Pentagon Over $10B Cloud Contract
Government Contracts Lawyers Prep After Microsoft Snags $10B Pentagon Order
'Extraordinary Circumstances': A Brief History of Top Federal Officials Ordered to Testify
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