Amazon.com Inc’s statement regarding Pentagon’s award of an up to $10 billion cloud computing deal to Microsoft Corp expressing concern that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process is taking a new turn as U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper  rejected any suggestion of bias in the award.

Amazon had filed a notice last week to  formally protest the decision on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud, known as JEDI. In a company-wide meeting, Amazon Web Services’ CEO Andy Jassy said it would be challenging for a U.S. agency to award a contract objectively when the president is disparaging one of the contestants, according to an Amazon spokesman. President Donald Trump has long criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos.

The company confirmed Jassy’s comments and said, “Numerous aspects of the JEDI evaluation process contained clear deficiencies, errors, and unmistakable bias- and it’s important that these matters be examined and rectified.”

U S Defence secretary told a press meet at Seoul that he was confident that the deal was conducted freely and fairly, without any type of outside influence.  Amazon was considered a favourite for the contract, part of a broader digital modernization process of the Pentagon, before Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner.

 IBM had previously bid for the contract but had already been eliminated from the competition. Esper’s said he was unaware of Amazon’s specific accusations. His remarks followed a question about whether Trump asked the Pentagon to “bypass Amazon” for the contract. A challenge to the Defence Department’s award announced last month was widely expected by legal experts, analysts and consultants, especially after Trump publicly derided Amazon’s bid for the high-stakes contract.

Trump had said in August that Amazon’s bid for the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure Cloud, known as JEDI, contract was under review by his administration after complaints from other companies.

Trump often criticizes Amazon and Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post. The president, without citing evidence, has accused the Post of making up stories about him.