Google joined Anthropic and OpenAI in offering steeply discounted access to generative AI for federal agencies under GSA's OneGov program, pitching Google AI products at $0.47 per agency through 2026. OpenAI and Anthropic previously agreed to $1 per agency. The OneGov deals let agencies adopt services without negotiating individual contracts, but the discounts expire after a year. Agencies that become dependent on discounted services face unknown long-term costs and possible vendor lock-in. Ask Sage filed bid protests arguing the discounts risk lock-in. Google stated it is uncertain about post-discount options and would explore them toward the discount period's end.
Not to be outdone by the makers of ChatGPT and Claude, who each agreed to sell their services to the government for $1 per agency, Google has agreed to even deeper discount terms, pitching its various government-capable AI products for just $0.47 per agency, valid through 2026. The half-a-buck Google AI deal is part of the General Services Administration's OneGov purchasing strategy that seeks to streamline the purchasing of products for federal agencies.
And like the other recent discount AI deals announced by GSA as part of its OneGov contracting initiative, Google's also expires after a year. Agencies that sign up for discounted services today and become dependent on them have no way of knowing what comes after the discount period ends. Google told us that even though it is not sure, with a spokesperson only saying that it would explore options toward the end of the discount period.
As we pointed out in another OneGov story, these deals open the possibility of a new generation of vendor lock-in. Any particular brand of AI could quickly become indispensable to an agency's workload before anyone knows what the long-term cost is. That's part of the reason both prior AI OneGov deals with OpenAI and Anthropic have been challenged by AI firm Ask Sage and its founder, former Air Force and Space Force Chief Software Officer Nicolas Chaillan.
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