The huge cloud computing contract of Pentagon goes in favour of Microsoft even though Amazon had been a strong bidder for the same. The allocation of the contract was pending for quite some time as President Trump himself had taken swipes publically against Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos. President Trump had openly said that his administration was reviewing Amazon’s bid as there were complaints from other similar companies.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract is part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon meant to make it more technologically agile. Specifically, a goal of JEDI is to give the military better access to data and the cloud from battlefields and other remote locations.

In a statement, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) spokesman said the company was “surprised about this conclusion.” The company said that a “detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings” would “clearly lead to a different conclusion”.

Although the Pentagon boasts the world’s most potent fighting force, its information technology remains woefully inadequate, according to many officials. Officials have complained of having outdated computer systems and being unable to access files or share information as quickly as they might be able to in the private sector.

 “If I am a war fighter, I want as much data as you could possibly give me,” Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, the director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told reporters in August describing the importance of the contract.

Some companies were concerned that a single award would give the winner an unfair advantage in follow-on work. The Pentagon has said it planned to award future cloud deals to multiple contractors.

In a statement announcing Microsoft as the winner, the Pentagon underscored its view that the competition was conducted fairly and legally.

“All bids  were treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation’s stated evaluation criteria. Prior to the award, the department conferred with the DOD Inspector General, which informed the decision to proceed,” it said.

The Pentagon said it had awarded more than $11 billion across 10 separate cloud contracts over the past two years.

“As we continue to execute the DOD Cloud Strategy, additional contracts are planned for both cloud services and complementary migration and integration solutions necessary to achieve effective cloud adoption,” the Pentagon said.