Google's Gemini for a gov office: what it actually does

Issue No. 11 · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · By Scott Olsen

PULL UP A CHAIR

I spent years working in shops built on Microsoft, so take this with whatever grain of salt that deserves. Since the topic of this issue is Gemini, I thought this would be a good place to talk about some of the differences between Google and Microsoft, and where I think Google is actually making a real push to take a bite out of Microsoft's share in local government.

Start with the thing I actually dealt with every day: administration. Google's admin console handles most of what you need from one place. Microsoft's equivalent is spread across several different portals, and if you have ever had to bounce between three or four of them just to fix one user's access, you know exactly the headache I mean. That is not a small thing when your IT staff is one person wearing six hats.

Where Microsoft still has the edge, at least on paper, is compliance depth. Its government cloud tiers cover a broader set of federal frameworks, especially anything touching CJIS, the FBI's security rules for handling criminal justice data like police and court records, or ITAR, the State Department's export-control rules for defense-related information. I say "on paper" on purpose, because even the people who write about this professionally cannot agree with each other on exactly which FedRAMP level, the federal government's own cloud-security certification program, each platform actually holds. That is worth sitting with for a second. If the experts covering this for a living cannot get their story straight, you should not take any single source's word for it either, mine included. Verify it yourself before you build a procurement decision on it.

If your office still does serious budget work in Excel, pivot tables, macros, real financial modeling, Sheets is not going to replace that anytime soon. That is less a knock on Google and more just where the two have always specialized. If you are already a Windows shop with Active Directory running everything, switching suites is a much bigger lift than it sounds like on a sales call. That is not really a software decision at that point, it is an infrastructure decision wearing a software costume.

The base suites will not settle this for you either. Both land around six or seven dollars a user a month at the entry tier, close enough that it should not be the deciding factor on its own. Where it gets less close is the AI add-on, which is the next thing worth understanding.

Here is the part that is actually new. Copilot's full version, the one that can read your own files, is a separate paid add-on stacked on top of your base Microsoft license, regardless of which Microsoft 365 tier you are already on. Gemini does not require that separate purchase. Do not mistake that for everyone getting the same Gemini. Which Workspace tier you are on still decides how much of it you actually get: Business Starter only unlocks Gemini inside Gmail, nothing in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, or Chat. You need Business Standard or higher before it shows up everywhere else, with access to Google's stronger models on top of that. Google skips the second purchase. It does not skip the tier question.

Full disclosure: the business I run now has been on Google from the very start, well before I ever dug into any of this for a newsletter. Even so, pulling all of this together for this issue was genuinely eye-opening. There is more sitting inside a plan I already pay for than I realized.

I am not ready to say Google wins this outright. I came out of this issue more convinced than I expected that the gap is closing, and that Google is playing for real share here, not just showing up to look competitive. If your office runs Google, or you have gone through this exact decision recently, I would genuinely like to hear how it landed for you. Hit reply and tell me.

THIS WEEK'S PICK

Google's Gemini for a gov office: what it actually does

A few issues back I walked through Gemini's drafting tools in Docs specifically. That was one app. Gemini now reaches into most of Google Workspace, and most offices running Google have no idea how much of it they are already paying for, or not paying for, depending on which tier they are actually on. Same split as the Microsoft issue a while back: what you get free, what needs a higher tier, and what is still genuinely half-baked.

IF YOUR BOARD MEETS ON GOOGLE MEET

"Take notes for me" writes the minutes draft while you run the meeting

This is Google's answer to the Zoom and Teams notetaking tools from Issue 1. Turn it on as host, and it transcribes the call, produces a summary with action items, saves the whole thing as a Google Doc in Drive automatically, and emails a recap to everyone who attended. Every participant gets notified the moment it is turned on, nothing runs silently. It is included starting at Business Standard, the same tier that unlocks everything else in this issue.

Cost: included from Business Standard up     Setup: host turns it on per meeting, in the Meet controls

IF YOU KEEP LOSING TRACK OF WHERE SOMETHING IS SAVED

Ask Gemini in Chat searches your Gmail, Drive, and Calendar at once

Rolled out in late August, this is the closest thing Google has to a real "find the thing I know exists somewhere" tool. Ask it a question inside Google Chat and it searches across your Gmail, Drive files, and Calendar together, summarizes what it finds, and can draft something based on it. Available on Business Standard and Plus, not Starter.

Cost: included from Business Standard up     Setup: open Google Chat, look for the Gemini entry point

HOW TO ACTUALLY USE IT

1.  Check your actual Workspace plan in the admin console, do not assume from what you see in the menus. Starter and Standard look similar until you try to use something that is not actually turned on.

2.  If you are on Standard or above, turn on "Take notes for me" for your next board or staff meeting on Meet and see what the draft actually looks like before you trust it for real minutes.

3.  Try Ask Gemini in Chat on something you already know the answer to, so you can judge whether it actually found the right file before you trust it on something you do not know.

4.  Ask your IT contact, or whoever manages your Workspace admin console, what the data retention setting is for Gemini conversations. Google lets admins set it anywhere from 3 months to indefinite, and the default is not a records decision your office should be backing into by accident.

The honest catch: Google Workspace itself carries real government-grade authorization, StateRAMP among others, which is worth knowing if security review ever asks. That is a different thing, though, from "Gemini for Government," a separate federal Cloud program aimed at agencies, not the Workspace tools in this issue. Do not let a vendor conversation mix the two.

THE RULEBOOK · TWO RULES WORTH A GLANCE

What changed that affects how your office can use AI. Short, plain, and sourced. The part that keeps you out of the newspaper. Tagged Local for a city or county action, State for a change at the state level, Federal for a change at the federal level that reaches your desk.

ONE MORE QUICK WIN

Check your Gemini retention setting before you assume it does not matter

Google lets an admin set Gemini conversation retention anywhere from three months to indefinite. Most offices never touch the default. Ten minutes with whoever manages your Workspace admin console settles whether that default lines up with your actual records schedule, or whether it was never a decision anyone consciously made.

Know someone at another city or county who could use this? Forward it over.

Until next week,

Scott Olsen, CGCIO

Former CIO with eleven years in Florida local government

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Practical guidance for local government, not legal or procurement advice.