NSA to reevaluate proposals submitted by Microsoft and AWS for $10 billion cloud contract

In August, we reported that Microsoft has filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding a $10 billion cloud computing contract awarded to Amazon’s AWS by NSA (National Security Agency). GAO has now sustained Microsoft’s protest and has recommended NSA to reevaluate proposals submitted by Microsoft and AWS.

Nextgov received the following statement from Ralph O. White, Managing Associate General Counsel for the Procurement Law Division at GAO.

GAO found certain aspects of the agency’s evaluation to be unreasonable and, in light thereof, recommended that NSA reevaluate the proposals consistent with the decision and make a new source selection determination. GAO’s decision expresses no view as to the relative merits of the AWS and Microsoft proposals. Judgments about which offeror will most successfully meet the government’s needs are reserved for the procuring agencies, subject only to statutory and regulatory procurement requirements.

NSA spokesperson commented the following regarding GAO’s order:

NSA respects the oversight of the Government Accountability Office, and will work to ensure that these capabilities can be delivered to support the Agency’s mission in a manner consistent with the GAO findings. The Hybrid Compute Initiative remains a priority for NSA, and we will continue to work through the source selection process to acquire this critical capability for the national security.

Source: NextGov