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The European Commission’s Open Source Observatory (OSOR) recently published the 2026 Paper on Progress and Trends in the National Open Source Policies and Legal Frameworks. This paper examines the evolution of the adoption of open source software and related policies in European public administrations.
Read the full paper: https://openforumeurope.org/publications/progress-and-trends-in-the-national-open-source-policies-and-legal-frameworks-3/
Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
- Details
- Written by: Adrian Offerman
- Category: Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
Acronym: Open e-Prior
Web address: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/software/openeprior/home
Country: EU, BE
Case abstract
e-Prior is an e-procurement system that facilitates standardised e-procurement document exchanges between a public administration and suppliers across Europe. It was originally developed by EC's Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT, responsible for delivering the digital services to enable EU policies and to support the Commission's internal administration) and is now used by almost all the Directorate-Generales. The Belgian federal government is the first to implement a national version of e-Prior, named the Mercurius platform. Full digitisation of public procurement can contribute significantly to improving the overall efficiency of public expenditure. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to modernise and simplify public administration, thereby reducing administrative burdens, increasing transparency and enabling growth.
Read more: e-Prior: electronic procurement system for public administrations
- Details
- Written by: Adrian Offerman
- Category: Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
You can easily win the open source vs. closed source discussion on pure economic arguments
TYPO3gem is a Dutch municipal user group for the TYPO3 content management system (CMS). Its 41 members exchange information, develop new functionality in small alliances, and share the costs. An anniversary booklet containing a dozen success stories of TYPO3 deployments marks the start of an evangelisation campaign that is expected to substantially boost the number of new members this year.
TYPO3gem will also function as a blueprint for the communities around other open source solutions. Also in the making is a municipal umbrella organisation on open source that will eventually oversee these domain-specific workgroups.
Read more: Dutch municipalities organise themselves around open source solutions
- Details
- Written by: Adrian Offerman
- Category: Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
Acronym: EC Europa platform
Website: http://europa.eu/
Start Date: July, 2014
Operational Date: January, 2015
Case status: operational
Funding source: Public Funding EU
Geographic coverage: EU
Abstract
Last summer, the Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT), and DG Communication (DG COMM) started the implementation of the new europa.eu platform. This is built on Drupal version 7 and will replace the current Corporate Web Content Management System (CWCMS) based on Documentum, as well as the temporary Multisite Platform also based on Drupal 7. The Digital Transformation programme, which will consolidate all Europa websites onto the new platform, is led by DG COMM, DG Translation (DGT) and DIGIT, working in partnership with all DGs and executive agencies. From 2017, all new websites will be developed on the Europa platform.
Read more: EC consolidates hundreds of websites onto new Drupal 7 Europa platform
- Details
- Written by: Adrian Offerman
- Category: Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
Pleio, the social media and collaboration platform for Dutch civil servants, is being redesigned, lifting the platform to a more professional level. The open source software will be provided with a more modular base architecture, allowing functional components from other platforms to be integrated.
Read more: Dutch civil servant platform Pleio renews architecture
- Details
- Written by: Adrian Offerman
- Category: Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
Risk aversion might be the easiest and safest way, it's also very expensive
The city of Ede, the Netherlands, currently has an annual total ICT budget of six million euros. According to the Dutch Berenschot benchmark for municipal ICT costs, that is 24 percent less than other municipalities of comparable size are spending. Drilling down shows that most of this reduction can be explained by Ede's extremely low spend on software licenses: only 56 euros per full-time equivalent employee (FTE) instead of 731 euros. That's a very impressive 92 percent less than average. Such a large reduction was achieved by moving from proprietary to open source software.
Read more: Dutch city of Ede spends 92 percent less (!) than its peers on software licenses