Microsoft wants to give US government Copilot for free

"The GSA didn't mention specific discount terms, but it said that services, including Microsoft 365, Azure cloud services, Dynamics 365, Entra ID Governance, and Microsoft Sentinel, will be cheaper than ever for feds. That, and Microsoft's next-gen Clippy, also known as Copilot, is free to access for any agency with a G5 contract as part of the new deal, too. That free price undercuts Google's previously cheapest-in-show deal to inject Gemini into government agencies for just $0.47 for a year."

"The GSA made this Microsoft deal as part of its OneGov initiative, which seeks to centralize purchasing of products and services used across the government under a single contract. While the agency intends for OneGov to extend across the federal government, the first phase of the program focuses exclusively on IT contracts. Though it only announced OneGov in April, the GSA has awarded contracts under the plan at a rapid pace, with Oracle the first firm to sign a deal in July."

"The agency wrote many of the other OneGov contracts to get AI products into the hands of government agencies. OpenAI and Anthropic both made deals with the GSA in August to provide a year of their services to agencies for $1 each, which Google undercut later last month. Even Box made an AI discount deal with the federal government, though it didn't disclose pricing."

Microsoft agreed to a GSA OneGov contract offering steep discounts across Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Entra ID Governance, and Microsoft Sentinel, potentially saving the federal government up to $3.1 billion over the next year. The deal includes free Copilot access for any agency with a G5 contract, undercutting Google's low-cost Gemini offer. OneGov centralizes federal IT purchasing under a single contract. The first phase of OneGov focuses exclusively on IT contracts. Early awards under OneGov proceeded rapidly, with Oracle receiving a deal including a 75 percent discount. Several AI vendors secured nominal or discounted access, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Box, and AWS.

Read at Theregister