Google, Microsoft battle over Interior cloud services

Google earned a check in the win column this week, marking a victory over Microsoft in the cloud computing arena. The Interior Department has been ordered to st...

Google earned a check in the win column this week, marking a victory over Microsoft in the cloud computing arena.

The Interior Department has been ordered to stay an award to Microsoft after a judge ruled it violated the Competition in Contracting Act and rules in the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller reports “Google filed a lawsuit in October alleging Interior did not conduct a fair and open procurement to move more than 80,000 employees to a single e-mail, messaging and collaboration system.”

On Tuesday, the court agreed with Google saying Google would suffer “immediate and irreparable harm” if the agency awarded a contract later this month to Microsoft. The court states Microsoft would “achieve organizational lock-in and cost Google an opportunity to compete.”

The contract is worth more than $50 million over five years.  

This latest battle comes as various agencies are announcing their intent to use cloud services from both companies. Google has won a contract with GSA to provide email services through the cloud while the Department of Agriculture is using Microsoft’s services.

The Fed Cloud Blog will continue to follow this story as more becomes available.

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