Did Google Lie to Feds About Its Security Clearance?

From The Wall Street Journal:

U.S. government lawyers in December argued that Google hadn’t received an important security clearance for a suite of online applications despite the company’s statements to the contrary, according to a court filing unsealed last week.

But it’s unclear whether that assertion–which was pointed out by Microsoft, and which Google disputes–will have much impact on the companies’ continuing tussle over government customers.

Google has been trying to displace Microsoft in government agencies that have long used that company’s Office applications. It’s scored some wins; in December, for example, the General Services Administration–better known as GSA–awarded a $6.7 million contract to Unisys as part of a deal that will provide the agency’s more than 15,000 employees with Google’s Gmail, word processing and other services over five years.

But Google hasn’t so far been able to crack the Department of Interior, and in November filed a suit alleging the agency favored Microsoft in setting criteria for bids for a new email system. The Department of Justice has been representing the Interior Department in the case.

One of the issues in the dispute is whether Google received a security clearance for Google Apps for Government, a suite of Web-based applications its has marketed. David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft, pointed out in a blog post Monday that Google has repeatedly said it did in a court filing and on its website.

But the Justice Department, in a footnote filed in a document in that case December, said government attorneys learned that month that “notwithstanding Google’s representations” to the court and other parties, it appears that Google Apps for Government does not have what the government calls FISMA certification, a security clearance that refers to the Federal Information Security Management Act.

Read the whole thing here.