Open source software deployment in the public sector

They call off mini competitions for contracts the suppliers then have to battle for. This model differs from the recommendations made in the European 'Guideline on public procurement of Open Source Software', aiming to overcome current barriers and increase the use of open source. It constitutes an agreement between the national public sector and five IT suppliers for the procurement of open source software and associated services.

The framework can be used by all parts of the central government, the public education sector, all twenty county councils, and out of the Swedish municipalities.

In this case all county councils and municipalities joined. They don't have to, but in that case they would probably end up doing a less good deal.

The current number of participating municipalities is roughly equivalent to the number participating in the previous framework agreement. One of the problems the other municipalities had is the question which department should take up this request.

Is this IT? Is this procurement? According to Melin, this framework agreement is the first one for the procurement of open source software in Europe. In fact, its origins date back to a similar framework that run from to That contract ended on March 31, Last year the contracts were worth about six million euros in turnover.

According to Melin, annual growth is percent: "The agreement is mostly used by those who have seen the light. That agreement has got a yearly turnover close to million euros.

They have to choose upfront which way to go. However, if we hadn't organized it this way and instead had created one large agreement called 'Software', smaller companies wouldn't have been able to participate, and then the framework would have been populated by the largest companies selling only the software customers ask for, or the software that would give the supplier the highest margin. That would have resulted in close to zero open source sales.

Being responsible for the coordination of procurement for the public sector, the NPS has to make sure that optimum conditions are created for the acquisition and use of IT. And not only for common features and solutions, but also for innovation and technology-neutral solutions in particular. To determine the best possible terms for acquisition, a feasibility study was conducted to identify the required scope, focus and structure of the procurement of software and services.

It looked into various delivery models serving eGovernment, operations, and consulting services:. The study found that the customers were content with the current suppliers, but they saw no added value in the distinction of five different categories that was part of the old setup.

As a result, the procurement model has been reduced to two parallel frameworks for the acquisition of software and services. Two major changes were made specifically to the open source procurement model.

First, under the old procurement directive customers could pick and choose among the suppliers, while the new framework requires mini competitions. Second, the old agreement did not protect the customers from 'Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt' FUD , a phrase related to Microsoft's marketing practices of defaming open source. As can be seen below in the section on the open source specific contract terms, the new agreement secures the availability of support and moves risks related to intellectual property for example, issues of licensing, copyright, and patents to the suppliers.

The rationale behind this model is the creation of competition between the suppliers, the minimization of risks for the customers, and the provision of a way for software development paid for with tax money to be given back to the community. Although the feasibility study also identified an interest in software functionality delivered from the cloud SaaS , Melin admits that current support is very limited.

When calling for tender in Swedish , the NPS explicitly aimed to bring together public sector demand and open source software and services. The agency was looking for a maximum of six open source suppliers for a period of two plus two years. The primary suppliers could bring in as many subcontractors as they saw fit. The framework leaves open the possibility of procuring open source software without any services. The suppliers were above all selected on their capability to provide competences and comfort, and their ability to deliver to the customers.

Subcontractors without consultants were unceremoniously rejected. From the seven tenderers two were ultimately dismissed; their scores were substantially lower that those of the other five companies around 20, compared to the range of the others.

According to the NPS, the remaining five companies would provide sufficient contention for the mini competitions. The suppliers fulfilling the new framework agreement are the Arctic Group, Init, Pro4u Open Source, RedBridge, and Redpill Linpro, at their turn subcontracting 75 companies in total to provide all the required competences and services.

It comes as no surprise that these suppliers are not the typical companies fulfilling government contracts. Their sizes vary from a one-man shop with a lot of subcontractors to employees. Redpill Linpro is the combined operation of Sweden's and Norway's largest open source companies. Redbridge was started by former employees of Oracle and comes from a server-side background.

Init is a smaller, technology-driven company. The Arctic group is an umbrella company which sells open source consultants from other companies. And Pro4U is a larger consulting company that has just started up an open source unit.

Since all of these companies were already participating in the former framework agreement, they do have a long history of working with the Swedish public sector.

A public organization wanting to procure through the framework agreement creates a mini competition between the main suppliers. All five companies then have to come up with a proposal. The customer's request specifies the requirements, including topics such as:. Maximum hourly rates for the various skill levels have been set in the framework agreement for each of the main suppliers.

Before the call-off the customer is allowed to consult the suppliers, to get a good idea of the available solutions and to be certain they can deliver. The extensive description of the customer's needs allows the suppliers to make sure their subcontractors will be able to deliver.

Although every subcontractor must be connected to one or more primary suppliers at the time of the tender, suppliers can switch subcontractors later. Furthermore, suppliers have to be completely transparent about the subcontractors they will be using and what services these subcontractors will provide to the customer. The one on the top would almost always be able to handle all customers and their needs.

In the end, that would make this supplier 'fat and lazy'. So the mini competition should be organized in such a way as to warrant a fair, even-handed battle for the contract. To facilitate this, NPS has made available a template for the customers to use. The study sought to establish availability of policy framework, level of usage of open source software, government support, motivations for implementing open source software in government, availability of skills, attitude of it managers in government toward open source software and challenges of open source software deployment in the public sector.

The study was extended to cover South Africa through review of literature on the same issues as those studied in Botswana.

Findings — Compared with other countries in developed and developing countries including South Africa, there is limited use of open source software in the public sector in Botswana. However, IT managers in government of Botswana demonstrate a positive attitude toward open source software, and seem to have adequate understanding of its potential benefits.

Comparatively, South African government provides support for harnessing open source software; awareness among top government officials is high and attitude toward open source software seems positive; skills are generally available and hardly any challenges of using open source software were identified.

Practical implications — Despite the increasing deployment of open source software in government across the world, the Botswanan government is yet unlikely to put in place an enabling open source software policy to harness the potential of the Software. Botswana and South Africa are the economic frontline states in Africa, and their leadership role in this matter among counterparts on the African continent is pertinent.

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They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. How much open source software this involves is secondary, in my opinion. That said: Like any industry, the public sector already uses substantial amounts of open source software by way of open source components built into commercial proprietary product. Open source is everywhere, including in Microsoft Windows and Office.

Perhaps the actual question was: Should the public sector use products exclusively built from open source software? When purchasing a product, the purchaser should look at all relevant parameters, including long-term costs, speed of innovation, and quality. It is here where open source software shines. Software products built exclusively from open source software prevent vendor lock-in.

Because the software itself is open source software, the user can switch to another company to service the software.