Microsoft Hooked the Government on Its Products With Freebies. Could Elon Musk’s Starlink Be Doing the Same?

A few weeks ago, my colleague Doris Burke sent a story that gave the New York Times and Deja Vu.

Reported the piece The Starlink, Elon Musk’s Satellite Internet Provider-run satellite Internet provider, Trump management officials, White home wireless connection and “donated” internet service to improve the wireless connection and cell adoption.

The gift, some of the former officials who quoted in the story amazed. However, when reported immediately last year, we hit us as a potential trump-period time of a tried and real business maneuver. In This investigationWe focused on deals between Microsoft and Biden’s leadership. In the regulatory center, the majority of consumers were intuitively: “Free” suggestions usually offer a grip.

Microsoft began to offer federal government updates and consulting services in 2021 after President Joe Biden Press in 2021. Our investigation, as recognized in Microsoft, was a very complex, profitable agenda, as recognized, the more complex, profitable agenda. The company knew that fathers were detained, after the end of the free trial, the federal customers will be expensive and difficult at this point after installing the proposal.

Former Microsoft employees, the company’s offer, a drug dealer with free samples, said that a drug dealer is Ain. “If you crack and crack you, you will enjoy the crack,” he said. “And then when it comes to cracking, your end users will say ‘take away from me.’ And you will be forced to give me money.”

He really came to pass because Microsoft predicts. When free trials are completed, the federal government has saved extensive cunning updates and began to pay a higher subscription fee by opening billions of future sales for the company.

Microsoft said that the government’s agreements are “fully adapted to the federal laws and rules” and the only goal of the federal institutions that sustain the sustainable nation-state threat by actors “continuously targeted the security posture.”

However, the government contract experts said that the company’s maneuvers are legally inevitable. In the field of government procurement, a competitive proposal process from competition, which is rivals, excluded from competition for profitable and extensive competition for the federal business, broke the process of competition.

After reading the story of Starlink’s time when he read the house, I rechecked with those experts.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Microsoft or Starlink, which is today or another company today or tomorrow,” he said Jessica TridipmanGeorge Dean Dean for government procurement research in the University of Washington University. “Whenever you want, this is the back door around the competition processes that provide our best goods and services from the best vendors.”

Typically, in the process of competition, the government offers sellers for goods and services that the government wants to buy. These vendors then submit their proposals to the government that chose the best choice in terms of quality and expenses. Gifts exceed the whole process.

Again, to explain trading secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump leadership just wants to not normalize such donations, but to encourage them throughout Washington.

Last month, during a look Silicone Valley Podcast “AllHe sailed the concept of the seller of “he” giving the government to the government. A few days after the New York Times publishes Starlink story, Lutnick said that such a donor “will not pass the whole process to be a proper seller for us to give us.” He added: “You do not have to sign the form of conflict and all these things for the government. You do not want to do things. You do not take anything.”

The President Donald demonstrated the Musk, companies and companies classified as an unpaid “private government employee” because of the unpaid “private government official” because of the “private government employee”With no cost to the taxpayer“The gift of the White House was just the last move. In February, his company focused on the ship 4000 TerminalFor the installation of Starlink Satellite Internet Service for the Federal Aviation Administration, with no cost.

In our Microsoft research, the sellers told me that the company’s subscribers and as a result of the free testing of government users, they said they have gained a market share for Azure, his cloud platform. It is not clear what the last game is for musk and starlink. He did not answer questions by email.

The federal law tried to limit donations to the government in a large part to control the spending for a long time.

At least 19th century, the Department of Executive Power, the staff of the Congress, which is the power of a purse, was entered into the necessary agreements. Viceholders did not want to have a fork to spend the cost of taxpayers, so they received a version of one version today. One part restricted “voluntary services” to protect from a probable voluntary requiring the government’s payment.

However, in 1947, the General Accounting Department presented with the Opinions of Financial Laws (now called the Government Report Administration), refused to freedom

Microsoft used the government customers who received $ 150 million worth of consulting services worth $ 150 million in the so-called service contracts. To give real cyberecurity products, the company provided the existing federal customers with “100% discount” to one year.

It is unknown whether the free services contracts for the gifts of the musk are in place. The White House and FAA did not answer written questions. What was the empty space. An officer Told the New York Times Last month, a lawyer, who controls ethical issues in the White House Administration, sang the dance of Starklink.

Written agreements for my consulting specialists can help companies meet the letter of the law, but of course it is not with his spirit. “It doesn’t make it right because of the technically legitimate of something,” he said Eve lyonAs a procurement specialist in the federal government, a lawyer who works for four decades.

The results of accepting the consequences of taking a gift, despite the transfer of Lyon and government officials, “he can’t cause violation at the beginning,” he said.

Tiddmman said that the risk of known liabilities is especially pronounced when it comes to technology. Users trust a provider, “The seller lock is inside.” Starlink’s donations are very early to say what will happen, but Microsoft’s White House offers the offer possible in advance. First of all, the world’s largest program company in the world continues to expand the traces between the federal government.

A source from Microsoft investigation last year called recently. He told me that the government was locked in Microsoft, competitors continue to be free from the opportunities of the federal contract. When a sample asked, the Defense Department shared the Defense Information System Agency or Disa 2024 documents. The document describes the “except for a fair opportunity” in the purchase of various new IT services, “except for a fair opportunity”, saying the $ 5.2 million order “directly to Microsoft Corporation”.

Justification? Transition from Microsoft to another provider “will result in additional time, effort, expenses and performance effects.” Disa did not answer questions about e-mail.