Content Guy’s Note: Stories in this section are, in my estimation, important and relevant to business. However, they are relegated to this slot because some MNB readers have made clear that they prefer a politics-free MNB; I can't do that because sometimes the news calls out for coverage and commentary, but at least I can make it easy for folks to skip it if they so desire.
• The Washington Post reports that Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has concluded that "a bid protest lawsuit brought by Amazon over President Trump’s intervention in a Pentagon cloud computing contract 'is likely to succeed on the merits' of one of its central arguments."
The story says that the judge's conclusion, included in a court document made public on Friday, is the first hint about how the court "might rule in a high-stakes bid protest over the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud computing contract, which was awarded to Microsoft in October following intervention from the White House and members of Congress.
"In a blow to Microsoft and the Defense Department, Campbell-Smith ordered the Pentagon to halt work on JEDI. In a lengthy opinion explaining her reasoning, she sided with Amazon’s contention that the Pentagon made a mistake in evaluating prices for competing proposals from Amazon and Microsoft … Campbell-Smith has not yet ruled on Amazon’s contention that President Trump interfered personally in the bidding process, and the opinion published Friday did not mention the president by name."
One of Amazon's contentions has been that President Trump inappropriately interfered in the bidding process, denying Amazon's bid because it's founder-CEO, Jeff Bezos, also owns the Washington Post in a private investment; the Post has been aggressive in its coverage of the Trump administration.
