The Pentagon on Thursday said it hopes to reevaluate its decision to award a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft over Amazon, court documents filed late Thursday show.

The surprising announcement is only the latest twist in a years-long saga over the lucrative contract, and it could signal a potential victory for Amazon, which is suing to halt or overhaul the contract after it was awarded to Microsoft last year.  

Amazon claims the process was improperly influenced by President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Hill’s Morning Report — Coronavirus tests a partisan Washington The Memo: Virus crisis upends political world Bill to protect children online ensnared in encryption fight MORE, who publicly and privately indicated that he did not want the contract to go to Amazon, which is owned by a frequent target of the president’s criticism, Jeff BezosJeffrey (Jeff) Preston BezosHillicon Valley: Barr offers principles to prevent online child exploitation | Facebook removes misleading Trump census ads | House passes bill banning TSA use of TikTok Markey questions Amazon on price gouging due to coronavirus Hillicon Valley: Lawmakers seek 5G rivals to Huawei | Amazon, eBay grilled over online counterfeits | Judge tosses Gabbard lawsuit against Google | GOP senator introduces bill banning TikTok on government devices MORE.  

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In the U.S. Court of Federal Claims filings on Thursday, the Pentagon asked a federal judge for “120 days to reconsider certain aspects of the challenged agency decision.” 

“DoD does not intend to conduct discussions with offerors or to accept proposal revisions with respect to any aspect of the solicitation other than price scenario,” the filing reads.

In a statement, an Amazon Web Services spokesman celebrated the decision. “We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged ‘substantial and legitimate’ issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary,” the spokesperson said.

The Court of Federal Claims case has attracted significant attention over Amazon’s inflammatory allegations about Trump, who reportedly said he wanted to “screw Amazon” by keeping the contract away from his rival’s company. Amazon has asked the court to depose Trump as well as Defense Secretary Mark EsperMark EsperUS retaliates with missile strikes in Iraq Overnight Defense: Pentagon confirms Iran behind recent rocket attack | Esper says ‘all options on the table’ | Military restricts service member travel over coronavirus Graham warns of ‘aggressive’ response to Iran-backed rocket attack that killed US troops MORE and former Defense Secretary James MattisJames Norman MattisDemocrats press FEC pick to recuse himself from Trump matters Trump insists Taliban wants to ‘make a deal’ after surge in violence in Afghanistan Fed chief issues stark warning to Congress on deficits MORE.  

But the bulk of Amazon’s argument relies on the technical details of the deal, as the tech giant claims the Pentagon unfairly changed how it was evaluating the award at the eleventh hour.

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The Pentagon says it wants to reassess the technical details around its original evaluation, particularly around pricing.

“A remand here is in the interests of justice because it will provide the agency with an opportunity to reconsider the award decision at issue in light of AWS’s allegations, this Court’s opinion, and any new information gathered during the proposed remand,” the filing reads.

The cloud-computing contract, called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), is currently on hold after the Court of Federal Claims judge ordered the Pentagon to halt work on it until the case is resolved.

Industry watchers were stunned by the Pentagon’s decision to award the contract to Microsoft last October, pointing out that Amazon seemed to be best-positioned to take on the task given its substantial work with the CIA. But Microsoft is also a popular cloud-computing partner for the federal government and the Pentagon has maintained that the company was simply best-equipped to create the DOD’s cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft has maintained that the Pentagon made the right decision.

Updated at 8:49 a.m.

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