Microsoft challenges the government's decision to award Amazon a NSA cloud-computing contract, which could be worth $10 billion

• Microsoft has filed a protest with federal auditors over an NSA contract awarded to Amazon.
• The cloud-computing contract could be worth up to $10 billion, Nextgov reported.
• The Defense Department canceled a $10 billion JEDI cloud-computing contract with Microsoft in July.

Microsoft has protested the National Security Agency's (NSA) decision to award a lucrative cloud-computing contract to Amazon.

Microsoft $4 with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal agency tasked with probing government spending decisions. It came after the NSA gave $4 the deal, $4 reported, citing the protest documents.

Microsoft said the security agency did not conduct a thorough evaluation before awarding the contract, according to $4, which first reported the filing.

The NSA's new project, codenamed WildandStormy, could be worth up to $10 billion, NextGov reported.

Although there are few details about the program, a top intelligence official has previously said that the NSA plans to move more of its data onto commercial cloud platforms.

John Sherman, acting chief information officer for the Department of Defense (DoD), told $4 in February 2020 that the NSA wanted to move its data from some sites, and use vendors for managed cloud services as part of its "Hybrid Compute Initiative," Fedscoop reported.

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"NSA recently awarded a contract for cloud computing services to support the Agency. The unsuccessful offeror has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office," an NSA spokesperson confirmed to Nextgov.

"The Agency will respond to the protest in accordance with appropriate federal regulations."

The new protest filing comes after years of wrangling between two tech giants over the DoD's Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract. In 2019, the $4, which Amazon argued former President Trump had $4 through his $4 of former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

In July, the Pentagon said $4 that it had canceled Microsoft's contract, citing "evolving requirements," which meant $4.

Microsoft has tried to develop Azure, its $4, for government security clients. In December 2020, the company said $4 that it had finished building Azure Government Top Secret, a new cloud for highly classified information. It said it was working with the government on its accreditation.

It is not clear whether Microsoft wanted the NSA to select this new Azure platform for its WildandStormy project.

The NSA is due to respond to Microsoft's protest on October 29, according to the filing.

Microsoft, Amazon, and the NSA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.