Amazon goes to court to keep CIA contract

Amazon has filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in an attempt to derail the CIA's corrective action plan involving a $600 million cloud computing contract won by Amazon but protested by IBM.

Amazon Web Services has filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claim challenging the need for the CIA to take a corrective action following a successful bid protest by IBM over a $600 million cloud computing contract the CIA awarded Amazon.

FCW is reporting that the CIA has decided on a corrective action following a Government Accountability Office ruling in favor of IBM. What the corrective action is has not been made public.

GAO faulted the CIA’s evaluation of pricing submitted by IBM and Amazon and it said that the CIA was incorrect in relaxing a requirement after picking Amazon as the winner of the contract.

The watchdog agency said that the CIA should reopen negotiations with both companies and make a new decision.

By going to the courts, Amazon could be trying to derail another possible bid protest by IBM if the CIA were to pick Amazon again. Amazon asked for the court to rule on its complaint by Sept. 23.