The deal value is Deal Valued at $40 Million activists want the gov. to use open source technologies instead of MS products
is there any detail on the spending? disregarding the $$$ of the deal, it is not that weird for an organization to prefer Microsoft's product if it is mostly about Windows+Office stuff.
If it is about server/backend thingy/IT infrastructure, then yes, no reason to choose Microsoft over the free stuff.
both, as for windows office their are free open source alternatives such as Libre Office and Ubuntu for Desktop