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What is U.K Government Open Source Action Plan?

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:February 25, 2009

The Uk government has published a new policy aimed at promoting the use of open source software in the public sector.

It is also aimed at promoting open standards and encouraging the re-use of IT solutions. Measures include an education programme, guidance on procurement from the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council and assessment of new products.

The government’s 10-point strategy is:

1. Open Source Software The Government will actively and fairly consider open source solutions alongside proprietary ones in making procurement decisions,

2. Procurement decisions will be made on the basis on the best value for money solution to the business requirement, taking account of total lifetime cost of ownership of the solution, including exit and transition costs, after ensuring that solutions fulfil minimum and essential capability, security, scalability, transferability, support and manageability requirements.

3. The Government will expect those putting forward IT solutions to develop where necessary a suitable mix of open source and proprietary products to ensure that the best possible overall solution can be considered.

4. Where there is no significant overall cost difference between open and non-open source products, open source will be selected on the basis of its additional inherent flexibility.

5. Non–Open Source Software The Government will, wherever possible, avoid becoming locked in to proprietary software. In particular it will take exit, rebid and rebuild costs into account in procurement decisions and will require those proposing proprietary software to specify how exit would be achieved.

6. Where non open source products need to be purchased, Government will expect licences to be available for all public sector use and for licences already purchased to be transferable within the public sector without further cost or limitation. The Government will where appropriate seek pan-government agreements with software suppliers which ensure that government is treated as a single entity for the purposes of volume discounts and transferability of licences.

7. Open Standards The Government will use open standards in its procurement specifications and require solutions to comply with open standards. The Government will support the development of open standards and specifications.

8. Re–Use The Government will look to secure full rights to bespoke software code or customisations of commercial off the shelf products it procures, so as to enable straightforward re-use elsewhere in the public sector. Where appropriate, general purpose software developed for government will be released on an open source basis.

9. Where the public sector already owns a system, design or architecture the Government will expect it to be reused and that commercial arrangements will recognise this. Where new development is proposed, suppliers will be required to warrant that they have not developed or produced something comparable, in whole or in part, for the public sector in the past, or where they have, to show how this is reflected in reduced costs, risks and timescale.

10. When suppliers are proposing a third party product there should be full price transparency. If there is a pan–Government agreement there should be the option to source through this where doing so would maximise overall public sector value. The Government will expect to be charged only the cost the supplier incurs unless the supplier can clearly and transparently provide evidence of the additional value created.

Action Plan:

Action 1: Clarity in procurement: The CIO Council, with the Office for Government Commerce, will develop clear and open guidance for ensuring that open source and proprietary products are considered equally and systematically for value for money. This guidance will be published and will include:

1. (a) the specification and evaluation of compliance with open standards and of potential for re-use across the public sector.
2. (b) a standard form of words for Statements of Requirements to state positively that the Government’s policy is to consider open source solutions on their merits according to total lifetime cost of ownership.
3. (c) authoritative advice for public sector purchasers to the particular licensing, warranty and indemnity issues associated with open source.

Action 2: Increasing capability within Government: The CIO Council and the OGC, working with industry and drawing on best practice from other countries, will institute a programme of education and capability-building for the Government IT and Procurement professions on the skills needed to evaluate and make the best use of open source solutions . The aim will be to raise the level of awareness, skills and confidence in the professions in the different licensing, support, commercial and cost models associated with open source solutions.

Action 3: Re-use as a practical principle: Learning from others is a key aspect of the CIO Council’s operating principles. Where open source solutions are evaluated and approved by one part of Government, that evaluation should not be repeated but should be shared. To support this, Departments will keep and share records of their approval and use of open source, including open source components within composite solutions.

Action 4: Maturity and sustainability: Open source software covers a multitude of products. Given the nature of Government work, a degree of confidence that a product is mature, that the code base is secure, that the project itself is sustainable is needed. The CIO Council will regularly assess products for maturity and recommend a list of products and implementations that meet agreed criteria.

Action 5: Supplier Challenge: Building on the actions above, Government Departments will challenge their suppliers to demonstrate that they have capability in open source and that open source products have been actively considered in whole or as part of the business solution which they are proposing. Where no overall open source solution is available suppliers will be expected to have considered the use of open source products within the overall solution to optimise the cost of ownership. Particular scrutiny will be directed where mature open source products exist and have already been used elsewhere in government. Suppliers putting forward non-open source products will be asked to provide evidence that they have carefully considered open source alternatives and to explain why they have been rejected.

Action 6: International examples and policies, and keeping up to date with developments: The UK Government will actively seek examples from other countries and sectors to encourage the development of product knowledge and better to challenge suppliers. The UK will actively engage in the development of policies across the EU and internationally.

Action 7: Industry/Government joint working: The CIO Council will work with systems integrators and software suppliers to open up their solutions to meet open standards, to include open source, and to facilitate re-use. The Government will encourage and facilitate closer links between open source providers (including organisations which provide support for open source) and system integrators. The Government will share with industry information about current deployments of open source and testing already performed so that knowledge can be re-used.

Action 8: Open Standards: The Government will specify requirements by reference to open standards and require compliance with open standards in solutions where feasible. It will support the use of Open Document Format (ISO/IEC 26300:2006) as well as emerging open versions of previously proprietary standards (eg ISO 19005-1:2005 (“PDF”) and ISO/IEC 29500 (“Office Open XML formats”). It will work to ensure that government information is available in open formats, and it will make this a required standard for government websites.

Action 9: Open Source techniques and re-use within Government, and appropriate release of code: Government purchasers will use a standard OGC-approved OJEU clause to make clear that solutions are purchased on the basis that they may be re-used elsewhere in the public sector. The OGC Standard Contract Clauses will contain a clause to ensure that the government secures full rights to bespoke software code or customisations of commercial off the shelf products it procures, and that it is clear that these rights cover re-use anywhere else in the public sector and the ability to release the code on an open-source basis. Where appropriate, general purpose software developed by or for government will be released on an open source basis.

Action 10: Communication, Consultation and Review: Government will communicate this policy and its associated actions widely and will expand it as necessary. It will engage with the Open Source community and actively encourage projects that might, in due course, develop into ‘Government Class’ products. It will keep the policy and progress on the actions under review, and report on progress publicly.