While the company’s growing power in the consumer market has drawn scrutiny, Amazon’s move to capture another large stream of spending — the public sector’s — has gone largely unnoticed. Last year, Amazon quietly secured a national contract to provide cities, counties, and schools with office and classroom supplies, library books, electronics, and more. The contract was awarded by U.S. Communities, an organization that negotiates joint purchasing agreements for its members, many of which are local governments. It’s received virtually no media coverage, and yet it opens the way for billions of dollars in public spending to shift to Amazon.

From Insttute for Local Self-Reliance Report: http://bit.ly/2KVLRnO