The Department of Defense indicated in court documents filed Friday that it is preparing for more months of litigation over a contract protest filed by Amazon Web Services challenging the award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Federal News Network reported.
DOD, Microsoft and AWS said in the joint status report that they have not reached an agreement on a schedule for further proceedings in the JEDI contract dispute, revealing several scenarios that could extend the case into late October at the earliest. They also asked the court to set a schedule for further litigation in the case as it “deems appropriate.”
“The filing merely reflects the proposed schedule for further proceedings in the case,” Russell Goemaere, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement Saturday. “Nothing about this procedural filing changes our previous statements regarding our commitment to establish an enterprise cloud capability for the department — we hope through JEDI — but the DoD’s requirements transcend any one procurement.”
The Washington Business Journal reported that AWS called on the court to accept its proposed schedule. The company proposed to file a renewed motion to complete administrative record on June 18, while DOD and Microsoft will submit responses to the renewed motion on July 9. AWS will then file its reply on July 16.
DOD and Microsoft proposed to file responses to the renewed motions on July 2 and would want AWS to respond on July 9 and the court to decide on those motions “as soon as practicable.”
Should the court grant discovery or significant supplementation of the record, another 70 days of filing motions would ensue. If the court decides not to grant discovery, a series of motions should be filed by the parties by Oct. 15.
The joint status report came a month after Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims turned down motions by the Pentagon and Microsoft to dismiss AWS’ JEDI contract challenge.
