The Pentagon was preparing to announce its
decision between finalists Amazon and Microsoft
when Trump publicly waded into the fray in July.
Trump said then that other companies told him
the contract “wasn’t competitively bid,” and he
said the administration would “take a very long
look.” Oracle had also protested after it and IBM
were eliminated from an earlier round of bidding.
Amazon is looking for more information about
what happened before and after Trump ordered
the review. Amazon’s court filing cites an alleged
comment that surfaced in a recent book that
said Trump in 2018 privately told then-Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis to “screw Amazon” out of
the contract.
George Washington University procurement
law expert Steve Schooner said a deposition of
Trump would be “clearly relevant to the primary
allegations underlying their lawsuit,” but that
doesn’t mean it will happen.
“I can’t imagine this president sitting for that
deposition,” Schooner said in an email.
Besides seeking Trump’s deposition, Amazon is
also asking to depose Mattis, current Defense
Secretary Mark Esper and other government
officials. Amazon said it wants more information
about the “unusual timing” of Esper recusing
himself from the decision-making process
because of his son’s work for IBM. That came
in October, long after IBM was no longer in the
running for the contract and despite Esper earlier
pledging to take a “hard look” at the bids after
Trump ordered the review.
In a filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims
unsealed this week, Amazon said Trump has a
“well-documented personal animus towards”