I'm not saying that the Microsoft development stack should be used for building the Air Force's mission critical systems (ie: deployed in the field in Iraq). A strong an compelling argument for open source development tools can be made in this situation, even if the tools require additional man hours and skillsets to integrate.

However, if what they're looking for is an application and database to crunch accounting numbers and a BI solution to display pretty charts and reports for Congress, then nothing beats Microsoft.