Open Source Observatory (OSOR)

Earlier this year, the British Cabinet Office refreshed its Open Source Procurement Toolkit, which includes a list of 'Open Source Software Options for Government'. The document includes over 150 software packages, each with a short description, the names of some proprietary packages it might replace, and links to case studies.

The list can be used to inform the design of new IT solutions, to suggest opportunities for IT service or solution refreshes, and to challenge proposed solutions that do not use open source technology. In this case study we first discuss the UK government's list of open source options, followed by four interviews: Tariq Rashid, responsible for Strategy & Change at the Cabinet Office; Scott Wilson, Service Manager of OSS Watch at the University of Oxford; open source expert Pia Waugh; and IT consultant Emidio Stani. Finally, we present the OSII stack, a German range of open source software applications, guaranteed and certified to work together.

Open source is a natural way to implement open standards and attain interoperability. Despite the procurement policies currently in place, however, most governments have a hard time taking in this new model.

As a consequence, governments are suffering from high or even unsustainable IT costs. Large parts of their budgets are exported instead of being invested in regional companies and jobs. And public agencies are missing out on local talent and innovations. Recent research shows that the CSS-only market we are just leaving behind delivers lower welfare than a mixed market. So there is every reason to identify and address the current issues, to improve value for taxpayers' money.

This article is a follow-up to a previous story in which we presented the issues in open source procurement in the public sector, as revealed through interviews with representatives of the open source suppliers in the four largest European countries.

Open source is a natural way to implement open standards and attain interoperability. Despite the procurement policies currently in place aiming to create a level playing field, however, open source suppliers appear to have a hard time maturing and growing to a size that allows them to compete with their closed source cousins.

As a consequence, governments are suffering from high or even unsustainable IT costs. Large parts of their budgets are exported instead of being invested in regional companies and jobs. And public agencies are missing out on local talent and innovations. Recent research shows that the CSS-only market we are just leaving behind delivers lower welfare than a mixed market. So there is every reason to identify and address the current issues and so further the development of the open source supplier market.

In this article we present the issues in open source procurement in the public sector, as they were brought forward in interviews with representatives of the open source suppliers in the four largest European countries.

In a follow-up article we will present the responses from the governments and discuss their policies.

The main goal of the Hungarian E-Governmental Free Software Competence Centre is to reduce license costs and to widen the use of open source software in public administration. The Hungarian public administration currently uses a lot of custom-made software, resulting in an application landscape of isolated islands with very little interoperability. This prevents the creation of larger, more complex e-government services. Open source code and open standards will allow public agencies to take back control over their locked-in data and extend e-government services.

The language barrier, however, constitutes a serious problem affecting the use of open source software. Hungarians in general have few foreign language skills, making it hard for IT managers and procurement specialists to get acquainted with open source software and connect with international developer communities. To improve this situation, the people from the Competence Centre have created an online open source knowledgebase describing commonly used software solutions and case studies. This allows public servants in Hungary to get acquainted with open source packages in their native language.

The Hungarian Competence Centre is very different from other competence centres. All its members, including the project manager, come from the open source community. Although they have had to learn the ways of public administrators, the diversity and hands-on experience of the team members has allowed them to find new opportunities for open source, to take an active part in pilot projects and to disseminate their knowledge and lessons learnt.