<p>The next act in the battle between Amazon Web Services and IBM for the opportunity to develop a cloud computing infrastructure for the CIA, the NSA and the rest of intelligence community opens Oct. 7, and the stakes could hardly be higher.</p><p>The U.S. Court of Federal Claims will decide whether the Government Accountability Office was right in June when it sustained IBM's bid protest against AWS's $600 million contract award from the CIA in early 2013. Following GAO's ruling, which directed the CIA to reopen negotiations and rebid the contract, AWS filed a complaint essentially asking the court to overturn the decision.</p><p>Oral arguments begin Monday assuming the government shutdown does not affect the court docket and Judge Thomas Wheeler will preside over a case that may have repercussions across the technology space. A decision is expected in mid-October.</p><p>Of course, money is on the line. A half-billion dollars and change is a lot of money in cloud revenue, and it's a particularly significant sum in the federal sector, where most agencies have yet to utilize cloud for more than the most rudimentary IT services.</p><p><a href="http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2013/10/04/amazon-ibm-cia-decision.aspx">Keep reading...</a></p>