Google wins court challenge on US government contract

A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to put on hold a request for a bid to upgrade its email system that Google Inc said favoured Microsoft Inc. Google argued the contract, worth up to about $59 million, was designed with Microsoft products in mind and asked for a preliminary injunction to stop it from going forward.
The contract was to provide email services to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Judge Susan Braden of the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., said Google made sufficient showing that the Interior Department violated rules about competition in contracting and sent the matter back to the Interior Department. The ruling was issued on Tuesday. Braden, however, said the court made no judgement on whether Microsoft was the right supplier for the contract. "The court discerns no basis in the present administrative record to support Google allegations of bad faith," the judge wrote.