Pentagon to review $10 bn contract that Amazon seeks

San Francisco, Aug 4 (IANS) In the face of accusations of favouring Amazon over other companies, the Pentagon is set to review a $10 billion cloud computing contract, the media reported.The announcement of the review came just weeks before the winner of the contract was expected to be declared, according to a report in National Public Radio, which added that US Defence Decretary Mark Esper is re-examining the project as President Donald Trump also cited the accusations of favouritism by critics."No decision will be made on the programme until he has completed his examination," Department of Defense spokeswoman Elissa Smith was quoted as saying on August 1.Amazon and Microsoft are the finalists for the project is called JEDI, for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure.Earlier in a letter to Trump, a group of lawmakers called for delaying the contract, The Hill reported.The letter, dated July 23, reportedly called for an investigation into potential conflicts of interest.The new review is good news for companies like Oracle and IBM, which have ousted from the bidding competition, NPR reported.
--IANS gb/prs