By Cornelius Rahn and Amy Thomson Jul 11, 2014
Germany’s Interior Ministry is reviewing rules for awarding government contracts for computer and communications equipment and services as a political rift with the U.S. widens, people familiar with the matter said.
The ministry will probably issue new purchasing guidelines in the coming weeks to replace its “no-spy-order” dated April 30, said the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private. Details are being worked out, and may require suppliers of components of a bidder’s goods or services to guarantee they don’t hand over confidential data.
Any tightening of procurement procedures could affect U.S. technology companies such as International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) as they vie for government contracts. U.S.-German tensions escalated yesterday after Germany expelled a top intelligence officer from the U.S. embassy in Berlin.
“They’ll come under scrutiny, those contracts with U.S. suppliers, as they come up for renewal,” said Andrew Rose, a London-based security and risk analyst at Forrester Research. “There is a definite point here about privacy and respect that Germans are trying to draw a line under.”
German federal and local agencies spend $28 billion on technology and communications hardware and services annually, of which at least 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of contracts are handled by the Interior Ministry.
Pamela Mueller-Niese, a ministry spokeswoman, didn’t immediately answer phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment. Marie-Ann Maushart, an IBM spokeswoman, and Nadine Papenfuss, a Microsoft spokeswoman, declined to comment, as did Patrick Rothwell, a representative for Cisco.
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