Pentagon-Microsoft $10-billion cloud deal awarded fairly: US Defence Secy

A multi-billion-dollar Pentagon cloud-computing contract was awarded fairly and with no "outside influence", Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday.

Esper said he was confident the competition "was conducted freely and fairly without any type of outside influence," speaking on a visit to Seoul.

His comments came a day after Amazon challenged the award of the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure programme, better known as JEDI, to Microsoft, alleging "unmistakable bias".