Why is it "irksome"? Pretty much every administrator treats grants as revenue (i.e., department X brought in Y grant dollars last year). I wouldn't want to give someone a grant if half of it goes to fund the university's operations.
All of those support research, and none of them is a direct cost.
Companies just build those kinds of costs into what they charge. Universities don't, and then get screwed because people try to wiggle their way out of paying it. They're trying to get something at a discount, and then they're often rather sanctimonious about it.
At my university, by most figures, the indirect rate isn't even enough to cover the actual cost of research. It's just closer. What the company is asking is for the good people of $State to pick up the tab for the R&D they can't be bothered to do themselves.
And Google is full of academics, funding academics, and being very careful about making clear these things are "gifts". They know full well how the system works.
Corporate research sponsors generally bend over backwards to avoid paying overhead, which is irksome, but it is what it is.