POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek March 11, 2019award and possibly even restart the bidding pro-
cess. A mysterious dossier suggesting that Amazon
had gained an edge in the bidding thanks to
improper personal relationships even circulated in
Washington. (There’s no evidence that Amazon’s
tech competitors are behind the dossier.)
In letters to the General Services
Administration, which oversees govern-
ment suppliers and buildings, retailers
and wholesalers have tried to protect
their ability to compete for some of the
e-commerce portal deal, which could
be even more lucrative than the cloud
one. The Retail Industry Leaders33DATA: SENATE OFFICE OF PUBLIC RECORD, BLOOMBERG RESEARCH
$40m3020100Amazon
Microsoft
Oracle
Apple
Uber
Twitter
AirbnbH1 2018: TRACKS
PROPOSALS FOR COLLECTING
SALES TAXONLINEPROMOTES H2 2017:
WITH WHOLE ITS MERGER
FOODSLOBBIES TO H1 2016:
MAKE FOOD STAMPS
REDEEMABLE FOR
E-COMMERCEPUSHES FOR H1 2017:
POSTAL RATE REFORMSH1: 2010^
WEIGHS IN ON CREDIT CARD
TRANSACTION FEESLOBBIES FOR H1 2013:
HIGH-SKILLED INCREASED
IMMIGRATIONPUSHES FOR H1 2012:
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO
BUY CLOUD SERVICESH2 2018The Influence Game
Amazon is gaining fast on Google, the tech
lobby’s spending champmention retailers that stand to lose business—have
begun to chafe at Amazon’s ability to outmaneuver
them in Washington. Last year, rivals Microsoft,
IBM, and Oracle waged a campaign, at times with
the help of trade groups, to unseat Amazon as the
front-runner for a $10 billion Pentagon cloud con-
tract, which was supposed to be awarded in April.
Amazon was dealt a blow in February when a new
conflict-of-interest allegation between Amazon
and a former Pentagon employee surfaced in the
course of a federal lawsuit brought by Oracle, which
wants to prevent the Pentagon from awarding the
cloud contract to a single vendor. The alleged con-
flict forced the Department of Defense to delay theSUPPORTSH2 2014:
REGULATIONSLOOSER
COMMERCIALFOR
DRONES