Alphabet, Google, and Amazon have discovered a way to benefit from the tumultuous landscape of Elon Musk’s government efficiency department, according to Bloomberg. The companies’ lobbyists in Washington witness their greatest chance to attain a long-sought goal: breaking Microsoft’s longstanding hold on the multi-billion-dollar government software market.
Amazon and Google are actively promoting this message through technology trade groups such as NetChoice, expanding their lobbying efforts and attributing the blame to Microsoft’s extensive practices contracts.
The trade associations are contacting members of the congressional “DOGE caucus,” which consists of lawmakers backing Musk’s initiatives, and DOGE representatives in several federal agencies.
Alex Haurek, a Microsoft spokesperson, said in a statement that it’s “concerning but unsurprising to see certain industry players trying to manipulate decision makers, through shadowy front groups, rather than competing transparently on price and quality.”
Google aims to expand its software offerings for government agencies. Many of which continue to depend on Microsoft’s outdated productivity tools like Outlook and Word. To strengthen its position in federal cloud computing, Amazon contends that Microsoft has unfairly sidelined competitors by bundling its cloud services with its software offerings.
This is uncharted territory for these companies, whose connections within government agencies have little value when it’s the amorphous group led by Musk and mostly made up of young engineers calling the shots. Indications suggest that their initiatives, such as meetings with Acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian, are beginning to yield results.
On March 26, federal chief information officer Greg Barbaccia, previously an executive at Peter Thiel’s Palantir, urged all federal agencies to compile a list of their licenses for the five largest software vendors, a list that Microsoft tops. Barbaccia described it as an effort to “stop wasteful spending.”
Congress is also undertaking a similar effort. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa and founder of the DOGE Caucus, serves as the lead co-sponsor for a piece of legislation that would direct federal agencies to streamline their software licenses and embrace new enterprise license agreements. Ernst, who mentioned in November that her initiative could potentially save around €680 million each year, did not reply to a request for comment. The House presented its version of the bill in late March.
In a letter to the DOGE in March, NetChoice- a group that includes Amazon and Google- stressed the need to address Microsoft’s purported “monopoly” in government software, asserting that it leads to increased prices and poor cybersecurity outcomes.
Competing with Microsoft, especially alongside Musk’s team of Silicon Valley engineers, highlights its recent performance in cybersecurity. In 2023, hackers linked to the Chinese government breached the company’s cloud environment, affecting tens of thousands of individual emails from the US government.
A report from a government-appointed cyber advisory board in April 2024 criticized Microsoft sharply for the hack. Notably, victims of the breach included then-commerce secretary Gina Raimondo and officials from the State Department. Their emails were accessed right before a meeting between then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Microsoft’s competitors saw the exposure as an irresistible opportunity.
NetChoice and various tech organizations have aligned their outreach with DOGE’s priorities, suggesting anti-Microsoft actions that aim to “save taxpayers billions next year.” Amazon and Google assert that Microsoft unfairly confines the government to lengthy, disadvantageous contracts, which could exclude billions in contracts from its rivals.
