A group of technology service providers are claiming that the U.S. government broke its own laws when it selected contractors to participate in a sweeping technology initiative on which Washington plans to spend up to $50 billion.

Plans for moving ahead with the program, known as Alliant, are now on hold, according to the General Services Administration.

In the lawsuit against the government, one of the service providers, Serco, Inc., claims the federal selection process for the program was "arbitrary and capricious," and did not properly account for vendors' past performance, references, and technical capabilities -- as required by law.

The GSA in August selected a number of high-profile outsourcers, including IBM, Electronic Data Systems, Computer Sciences Corporation and Lockheed Martin, along with 25 others, to participate in Alliant.

Under Alliant, the government plans over the next 10 years to upgrade computer systems that power everything from Department of Defense networks to crucial, federal communications systems and infrastructure.

Serco, a U.S. subsidiary of a U.K.-based contractor, is asking the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to re-open the selection process. It's been joined in its lawsuit by vendors Nortel, Stanley Associates, CGI Federal, Centech Group and several other companies that were shut out of the Alliant project.

Most of the court documents in the case are under seal. In a heavily redacted version of Serco's initial complaint, obtained by InformationWeek, Serco claims that the GSA's vendor selection process for Alliant was "unlawful" because it did not properly apply legally mandated criteria. The complaint was filed in late September.

The GSA says it has now put on hold projects related to Alliant until the legal challenges are resolved. "The Alliant team is responding to several protests, therefore a notice to proceed has not been issued at this time," the GSA said in a statement.