Google sues US Government over email contract bid

Internet giant Google is suing the US Government for allegedly refusing to consider its Google Apps suite as part of the Department of Interior’s bid for new hosted email systems.

The lawsuit alleges the Federal Government favoured Microsoft’s solution without considering alternatives and threats, including the alleged lack of security of Microsoft’s solution.

The Department of Interior called for tenders for an email platform that would consolidate 13 separate platforms. However, it also said the platform had to be part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite, and Google says this is anti-competitive.

The lawsuit claims that Microsoft software contains more security vulnerabilities and requires more software patches to fix holes than Google’s solution. It references a list on which Microsoft was one of the top 12 software providers requiring constant support.

“In contrast, Google was the only provider on the list with 0% ‘disclosure with no patch’… the Google Apps system… was built for the cloud from the ground up,” it states.

“Given the DOI’s requirements… Microsoft’s outages this year cast doubt on whether the BPOS-Federal Solution will satisfy all of DOI’s requirements… DOI also was apparently unconcerned about the numerous outages that Microsoft has experienced this year for BPOS-Standard – a January outage lasted nearly four days.”

Google also says there is very little if any information available about the Microsoft product, which has been tailored for the US Government itself.

“The BPOS-Federal solution is therefore a new product, and there are no publicly-identified customers who have either purchased or implemented the BPOS-Federal solution. In OMB’s recent report on the State of Public Sector Cloud Computing… there are no case studies reported of any customer using the BPOS-Federal product.”

Google also says Microsoft’s program is too tightly controlled, saying it does not “uniquely support compatibility and is more restrictive of interoperability than other options”.

In a statement, Google said that a “fair and open” process could save US taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and result in better services. “We’re asking the Department of Interior to allow for a true competition when selecting its technology providers.”

This isn’t the first time Google has complained about being locked out of Government contracts. Earlier this year it said the state of California had stopped the company from being considered for an email bid, with that contract being awarded to Microsoft as well.