U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he’s certain that the awarding of a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was done fairly.Esper was asked about the controversy at a news conference Friday in Seoul, South Korea.After the Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft in late October, Amazon announced its intent to challenge the decision in court. Amazon on Thursday said there was “unmistakable bias” on the government’s part.President Donald Trump said in July that he has received complaints about the Pentagon award process and that the contract was not competitively bid.Esper, who recused himself from the contract decision because his son had worked for one of the other unsuccessful bidders, said there was no “outside influence” on the decisionmakers.
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