Microsoft won the 10 billion contract with the Pentagon. Amazon participated in the competition, but Trump demanded that it be “thrown out” • Meduza • RIMA

Microsoft won the 10 billion contract with the Pentagon. Amazon participated in the competition, but Trump demanded that it be “thrown out”

Amazon, considered the frontrunner in the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract, lost out to Microsoft.

A forthcoming book about former Pentagon chief James Mattis, according to CNN, says that US President Donald Trump in 2018 asked the Secretary of Defense to "kick" Amazon out of the competition for the tender.

The relevant passage from a book about Mattis, written by his speechwriter Guy Snograss, was quoted by the Task & Purpose website, which specializes in news about the American army. Mattis, according to the book, said that the tender will be carried out in strict accordance with the rules.

The White House has not yet commented on allegations of Trump's attempts to influence the results of the tender. Earlier, Mattis's press office said that Snograss was a "junior employee" and did not participate in any decision-making.

The fact that the tender for the development of cloud technologies for the Pentagon worth $ 10 billion was received by Microsoft Corporation was announced on the evening of October 25th. Amazon said it was "surprised" by the results of the competition.
Trump has previously been publicly critical of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. In particular, the US President stated that the Washington Post, owned by Bezos, writes about him and his administration in an exclusively negative light.
In addition to Microsoft and Amazon, Oracle also participated in the struggle for the Pentagon tender. A few months ago, Oracle filed a complaint stating that one of Amazon's top managers had previously worked at the Pentagon and this could have an impact on the results of the competition.
Another potential participant in the competition for the development of cloud technologies for the Pentagon - Google - did not apply. Google said there is no guarantee that the Pentagon project will comply with the corporation's principles for the ethical use of its artificial intelligence technologies.