The decision in October to award the $10-billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, cloud modernization contract to Microsoft Corp. caught a number of industry observers by surprise. There could be more surprises to follow.

At least one official within the Department of Defense is apparently questioning whether Microsoft has the ability to meet the requirements of the complex and hotly contested contract, set to be debated in court, according to John Furrier (@furrier), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio.

“Microsoft won that JEDI deal without the capabilities to deliver on the contract,” Furrier said. “This was a direct quote from someone inside the DoD and inside the intelligence community. If Microsoft can’t deliver the goods, Amazon is back in the driver’s seat.”

[Editor’s note: SiliconANGLE reached out to Microsoft for comment but did not hear back.]

Furrier spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu), co-host of theCUBE, during the AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas, and they discussed the impact of the JEDI decision on the government’s cloud strategy and comparisons being made between Microsoft and Amazon Web Services Inc. technology.

Concerns about ‘interference’

Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of AWS, has been outspoken in recent days about the process that resulted in awarding the contract to Microsoft. Jassy expressed concern in an exclusive interview with SiliconANGLE that there was “a significant amount of political interference” in the contract decision.

In November, Amazon filed a protest of the Pentagon’s award, and no decision has been issued in response.

Jassy also pointed out in the same interview that his company had won other intelligence community contracts. In 2013, the CIA selected AWS to build a commercial cloud for storing sensitive data.

“Spending within the CIA is flat, but the demand for mission support is exponential,” said Furrier, who spoke with a member of the CIA community. “So the cloud fits that bill. JEDI is ultimately the true test of cloud naïve vs. cloud native.”

The JEDI decision has also brought competitive comparisons between AWS and Microsoft into sharper focus at re:Invent last week. There has been growing evidence that Microsoft is gradually gaining market share at Amazon’s expense.

A key battle for both companies revolves around the hybrid cloud. While Microsoft has pinned its hybrid cloud strategy to Azure Stack, AWS is betting that Outposts will be the solution customers want.

There are differences in the two offerings, such as AWS ownership of the total hardware and software stack while Azure Stack works with several original equipment manufacturers.

“When Microsoft did Azure Stack, they said they would give you an availability zone in your data center,” Miniman noted. “It was trying to extend the operational model, but it was a different stack. The architectural design point of Outposts is different; it is the same stack.”

Watch the complete video discussion below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS re:Invent event.

Photo: AWS re:Invent