[LINUX.ORG.MT] Fwd: OSS Article on OSS Procurement Guideline

[Keith Vassallo]

K Begin forwarded message: From: Bugeja Michel at MITA <michel.c.bug...@gov.mt> Date: 05 January 2012 13:06:58 GMT+01:00 To: Undisclosed recipients: ; Subject: OSS Article on OSS Procurement Guideline Malta’s open source initiatives goes to the next stage Government, through the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), has recently issued a publication to serve as guideline for public contracting authorities in assessing open source software (OSS) alongside proprietary software in the procurement process The issuance of the new ‘Guidelines on Open Source Software in Public Procurement’ follows Government’s commitment to encourage the adoption of cost-effective and non-disruptive OSS across public administration. Initially, the commitment towards OSS was communicated in the ‘Open Source Software Policy’ and the related ‘Open Source Software Directive’ as part of the Government of Malta Information and Communication Technology Policies, Directives, Procedures and Standards (GMICT) in August 2010. This was re-stated with the publication of the ‘Open Source Vision – Nurturing the Proliferation of Open Source’ White Paper in October 2010. The new publication, ‘Guidelines on Open Source Software in Public Procurement’ was listed as one of the medium-term objectives for 2011 in the Open Source Vision White Paper which referred to the need to make provision for “guidelines towards the adoption of Open Source Software requirements in procurements”. The publication addresses the role of Open Source Software in the procurement process, taking note of key issues for consideration at different stages of the process namely, making a case for procuring software (business case and research); deciding on the sourcing strategy (procuring directly or from the open market); defining tender requirements for procurement (business, technical and functional); evaluating offers against tender requirements; and contracting and contract management. More detailed information about the contents of the guidelines and other documents referred to in this article are accessible from the http://www.mita.gov.mt/oss. However, suffice it to say that the intention is to create more knowledge on OSS within the public administration. Proprietary software must compete with open source software and not vice versa. In 2007, Michael Tiemann, Vice President of Open Source Affairs at Red Hat Inc, and President of the Open Source Initiative, had noted that a lot of money – more than three trillion Dollars every year - is spent on information technology (IT) solutions which are based on proprietary software. This stifles competition by encouraging vendor lock-in, thereby limiting the chances of removing the more defective software from the market. Dr. Danielle Cordina is ICT Lawyer at MITA Source: http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=137708     Michel Bugeja Enterprise Architect | Technology & Systems Governance MALTA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY Email: Office: Mobile: URL: michel.c.bug...@gov.mt +356 2599 2078 +356 9945 4244  http://www.mita.gov.mt Please read our Legal Notice: http://emailpolicy.mita.gov.mt Kindly consider your environmental responsibility before printing this e-mail

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