In an interesting turn of events – especially considering all of the antitrust hot water in which Microsoft has found itself in the past with the Federal government – Google is suing the Federal government for requiring that any vendor proposals in response to a Request for Quotation (RFQ – similar to an RFP, or Request for Proposal) by the Feds to create a new, unified online messaging system, must include the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.
Somehow, how is this not a restraint on trade that smacks of handing Microsoft a monopoly on a silver platter? How can the Feds on one hand go after Microsoft for antitrust, and then on the other hand state that to do business with them, your solution has to include a Microsoft product?
(Granted, the antitrust suits against Microsoft were over something very different, but still, the irony is not lost on us.)
At the heart of the issues is Google’s claim that during several meetings and related conversations between Google and the Department of the Interior, Google made clear that they stood ready and able to submit a proposal that would meet the Feds’ needs.
But the Department of the Interior (DOI) claims that only Microsoft can provide “unified/consolidated email and ‘enhanced security’,” and in the RFQ specifically required use of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.
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So, in return, Google has sued the DOI, claiming that, among other things, the Feds’ RFQ is “unduly restrictive of competition.”
No hint yet on whether this will go all the way to trial, or settle, but the former would certainly be interesting.
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Can anybody say, “Pan Am”??? Juan Tripp would be proud. This isn’t coming from the great “New England” area by any chance?