AWS
AWS CEO Andy Jassy
Following Amazon's legal challenge of the government's handling of a $10 billion cloud contract, Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy tried to make his case in the court of public opinion on Wednesday.
Transform talent with learning that worksCapability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More In a meeting with reporters, Jassy argued that the Pentagon's decision to award that contract to Microsoft was not fairly made and was tainted by "significant political interference."
"What I would say is that I think it's fairly obvious that we feel pretty strongly that it was not adjudicated fairly," Jassy told reporters at a press event at AWS re:Invent, Amazon's cloud mega-conference in Las Vegas. "If you do a truly objective detailed apples-to-apples comparison of the platforms, you don't end up in a spot where that decision was made."
In October, Amazon was on the losing end of a major upset when it lost a crucial $10 billion Pentagon contract to Microsoft. Amazon Web Services was considered the frontrunner of the bid for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract.
After the Department of Defense announced that Microsoft had won, AWS filed an official challenge in November over claims of "unmistakable bias." During the bid for JEDI, President Donald Trump, who has an open feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, reportedly said that he would look into the bidding process for the contract.
"We have a sitting president who is willing to share openly his disdain for a company and the leader of that company," Jassy said. "It makes it really difficult for government agencies including the DoD to make an objective decision without a fear of reprisal."
The line is almost identical to what Jassy said in an all-hands meeting with Amazon employees last month, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider.
In his comments on Wednesday, Jassy added an appeal to patriotism and national security.
"We're talking about the national security of our country and modernizing their technology platforms and the foundation on which all those applications are going to be used to protect our country," Jassy said. "You have to make sure these decisions are made truly objectively."
Previously, Jassy reportedly told employees that AWS is two years ahead of Microsoft, and he made these claims again on Wednesday.
"Most of our customers tell us that we're a couple years ahead mostly in regards to functionality and maturity," Jassy said.
Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at rmchan@businessinsider.com, Signal at 646.376.6106, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at @rosaliechan17. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.
Next Story
I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
One of the world's only 5-star airlines seems to be considering asking business-class passengers to bring their own cutlery
Vodafone Idea FPO allotment – How to check allotment, GMP and more
RCRS Innovations files draft papers with NSE Emerge to raise funds via IPO
India leads in GenAI adoption, investment trends likely to rise in coming years: Report
Reliance Jio emerges as World's largest mobile operator in data traffic, surpassing China mobile
Satellite monitoring shows large expansion in 27% identified glacial lakes in Himalayas: ISRO
Vodafone Idea shares jump nearly 8%
