Google stops suit against Interior

Google and its reseller Onix Networking Corp. have dropped a lawsuit against the Interior Dept. for the alleged favoring of Microsoft Corp. in a solicitation, the Washington Business Journal is reporting. 

In its request to drop the lawsuit, Google said that Interior had agreed to update its market research and possibly issue a request for information. If the agency moved forward with a new procurement, Google would not be precluded from fairly competing, the Journal reported.

Interior, however, filed a response saying it does not have an agreement as described in Google request. The motion to withdraw was not opposed.

The agency wanted cloud services when it issued a solicitation last October in which it said only Microsoft could provide the level of security needed.

A federal claims court in January stopped Interior from awarding the contract to Microsoft saying the agency had violated the Competition in Contracting Act.