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Google Drops Cloud Lawsuit Against US Government
jfruhlinger writes "A year ago, Google sued the U.S. government because the government's request for proposals for a cloud project mandated Microsoft Office; Google felt, for obvious reasons, that this was discriminatory. Google has now withdrawn the suit, claiming that the Feds promised to update their policies (PDF) to allow Google to compete. The only problem is that the government claims it did no such thing."
We're talking about Microsoft Office, not productivity tools. ;-)
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Except the government is not allowed to discriminate, while you are, and for good reasons. Google sued because it affected them, obviously, but it also affects the citizens since they're the ones paying.
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The reverse is true - Google had no option to bid on the project, because the RFP specified that the only product that would fulfil the requirements was Microsoft Office.
If the rules require you to have an RFP in the first place, they are intended to support competition. If you carefully phrase your RFP to only permit bids from one vendor, you are circumventing that intention.
It's like you requesting bids from paint manufacturers for white paint to paint your house with, and inserting a clause that says "Must be Dulux® brand paint"