WASHINGTON — Microsoft Corp. is failing to move quickly enough to comply with its antitrust settlement with the government, the Bush administration said in its strongest show of impatience with the company since the 2001 agreement.

In a court filing yesterday, Justice Department lawyers said Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is falling behind on providing technical information mandated by the settlement.

The Justice Department said the company has fallen "significantly behind" in answering technical questions about its software. The administration hadn't previously complained that Microsoft is moving too slowly to fulfill its obligations under the settlement.