G.O.P. Lawmakers Question Amazon’s Connections on Pentagon Contract

Newly released emails show particular praise of Amazon among top Defense Department officials during the Trump administration as technology firms competed for a $10 billion award.

WASHINGTON — As the Defense Department prepares to solicit bids for cloud-computing work that could yield billions of dollars for Amazon, members of Congress are raising new questions about the company’s efforts to win a $10 billion contract during the Trump administration. Previously unreleased emails show that Pentagon officials in 2017 and 2018 lavished praise on several of the tech executives whose companies expressed interest in the original contract, especially Amazon, while concerns about the company’s access appear to have been glossed over, according to the emails, other documents and interviews. Two Republican lawmakers who have pushed to rein in the dominance of Amazon and other tech companies in consumer markets are seizing on the emails as evidence that Amazon unfairly used its influence in competing for taxpayer-funded contracts.