Google and one of its partners have sued the federal government over the U.S. Department of Interior's decision to consider only bidders that offer Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite for a contract to provide email and collaboration technology to the department's 88,000 employees.

The complaint (PDF, 37 pages) was filed Friday by Google and Onix Networking Corp. in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. It details Google's efforts to work with the Interior Department and seeks an injunction to prevent the agency from going forward with the process unless it's opened up to accept bid from vendors offering competing technologies. The company contends that the agency's predisposition to the Microsoft online suite violates federal procurement laws.

Google's complaint highlights the rising rivalry between the tech giants as they compete to provide productivity technologies to governments and companies.

Microsoft Office was named the standard for the Department of Interior in September 2002, a status that was reaffirmed this past July, according to the Google complaint.

In addition to contending that Google Apps would meet the agency's requirements, the complaint cites security and reliability issues with Microsoft's online suite. We've asked a Microsoft representative for comment on the suit, and we'll update this post depending on the response.

TechDirt first reported on the suit earlier this morning.