Google’s Good Enough for Government Work

Google is adding more sales muscle to its Washington, D.C., offices, according to some new job postings that make clear its ambitions to do more business with large government agencies.

The firm is seeking a head of enterprise federal sales to establish and expand business with large federal customers, a federal sales engineer with a track record of selling to the U.S. government, and so on.

Google is already doing business with about eight government agencies, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard and the Social Security Administration.

Commenting on the ads, Within Google’s World blogger Angelo Embuldeniya feels perhaps the rumors are true and that Google and the U.S. Department of Defense are already doing business together. Google presently doesn’t list the DOD as a customer.

A DOD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a phone and e-mail message seeking comment.

Just what has Google got to sell to the government? There’s a lineup of its Mini search appliances, which range in price from $2,000 to more than $30,000, that are meant to improve the search capabilities of computer networks found within corporations.

There are also tricked-out versions of Google’s popular features, like Google Earth Enterprise.

Google will be facing stiff competition, specifically from incumbents like BBN, government contractor based in Cambridge, Mass., with search products to sell; TVEyes, a video search engine that counts the DOD as one of its biggest customers; and a long list of others led by FAST and Autonomy (owner of Verity).