Google Claims U.S. Excluded It From Contract

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is suing the Interior Department, claiming it considered only Microsoft products and not Google Apps when buying e-mail and collaboration software for its 88,000 employees.

The suit, filed Friday in the United States Court of Federal Claims by Google, contends that by considering only Microsoft products, the government was “unduly restrictive of competition.” The suit said the department violated the Competition in Contracting Act, which requires such bidding to be competitive.

Google is searching for its second act beyond search, including with applications that compete with Microsoft’s word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail and other office productivity products.

In the suit, Google describes many instances in which it tried to pitch its tools to the Interior Department, but says that the government ultimately limited the contract, which is worth up to $59.3 million, so only Microsoft products were considered.

Google seeks to block the department from buying any of the software until it allows competitive bidding.

Google Apps are cloud-based tools, meaning that people use the software through the Web. In September, Google said 30 million people at businesses, schools and other organizations used Google Apps. It is making only a small dent in Microsoft’s sales of Office software.

Some organizations have raised concerns about the security and reliability of Web-based software. In July, Google introduced Google Apps for government, which pass federal security standards and ensure that government data is stored only on servers in the United States.

Governments including the State of Wyoming and the city of Los Angeles use Google Apps. “In cases like Los Angeles and Wyoming, those were open and competitive bid processes and we beat Microsoft fair and square, and taxpayers have saved millions of dollars along the way,” said Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman. He declined to comment on the lawsuit specifically.

Microsoft, which last week won a major software contract from New York City, declined to comment. Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, also declined to comment.