“Eric Goldman alerts us to the interesting bit of news that
Google has sued the US government — specifically the Department of
the Interior, for not seriously considering Google Apps when it put
out a Request for Quotation (RFQ) to handle its messaging needs.
Specifically, the DOI stated upfront in the RFQ that the solution
had to be part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.
Google is making the argument that this is “unduly restrictive of
competition,” and it seems like they’ve got a decent argument
there.“Most of the lawsuit details the history of meetings and
conversations between Google and the DOI, where Google sought to
convince the DOI that its solution was acceptable. The DOI
justified limiting its offerings to Microsoft, by saying that
Microsoft had two things that other solution providers did not:
unified/consolidated email and “enhanced security.”