As part of the Government's ICT strategy, and in a bid to
encourage the appropriate use of open source software
("OSS") in Government ICT projects, the
Cabinet Office yesterday published an OSS procurement toolkit. The
toolkit is made up of an introduction to OSS for Government IT, an
ICT advice note on OSS procurement, a note on OSS options for use
in government and a note on the total cost of ownership.
The Government is looking to increase awareness and improve
understanding of OSS and so a key purpose of the toolkit is to
level the playing field for both open source and proprietary
software and ensure that some of the myths associated with open
source are dispelled. It has been provided for those who need to
consider, evaluate or procure open source solutions as well those
who want to know more about open source in general.
Some of the biggest barriers to use of OSS in Government ICT
projects are concerns about OSS security, the potential impact of
OSS licence terms on other software and intellectual property
rights and that the procurement process itself is not conducive to
using OSS (for example, the current model ICT services agreement
doesn't include detailed OSS related provisions). To further
address these issues a procurement policy note on OSS is due to be
published before April 2012. This policy note will be an extension
of the advice note on OSS procurement and will be specifically
aimed at procurement specialists.
The Government's OSS toolkit can be found here.
The Government's ICT strategy can be found here.
If you would like more information about OSS in connection with the
model ICT services agreement, or in general, please contact us.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 07/11/2011.
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