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EGOVOS endorses South Africa's Open Source strategy
EGOVOS endorses South Africa's Open Source strategy
The South African Strategy is a reasonable road map for a viable Open Source Government Policy for the following reasons:
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Official Statement of Recognition of the Legitimacy of Open Source
Since Open Source as a policy consideration is a relatively new phenomenon, a proper Open Source Government Policy begins with the explicit recognition of Open Source as a legitimate software development methodology.
The South African Strategy explicitly states that Open Source software is a legitimate alternative to proprietary software in government systems.
- Designation of Particular Government Agency to Lead Open Source Program
A proper Open Source Government Policy provides authority and accountability to a high level government official who is responsible for coordination, communication and execution of the Program.
The South African Strategy designates the State IT Agency (SITA) to provide leadership and support for government institutions wishing to implement Open Source Software. The strategy makes provision for briefing sessions to the public and to government agencies, publishing information through appropriate media outlets, creating and maintaining an Open Source government website, and making presentations at conferences.
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Level Playing Field in Government Procurement
A government IT policy should foster a commitment to competition without, directly or indirectly, pre-determining winners, as a result there should be no a priori procurement preferences. However, a neutral government procurement policy first ensures that all de facto and de jure preferences, prejudices and discriminations are removed. Once the playing field is leveled, purchases should be made on technical merit, giving both proprietary and Open Source software an equal opportunity to be selected.
One prerequisite for a level playing field is the removal of existing user lock-ins resulting from de facto proprietary standards in use in the current IT environment. As such, governments should immediately mandate that only products abiding by enforceable Open Standards and Open Protocols be purchased.
Until all major IT products are produced in compliance with Open Standards and Open Protocols, it is reasonably defensible for governments to have policies that deviate to a limited degree from a procurement policy that would look exclusively at technical merit. The preferred mitigating policy is charging proprietary companies a 5-10% non-compliance fee on all purchased products that are non complying, with the proceeds used to fund Open Source education and software development in the country. A less preferred policy, though still reasonably defensible, is a pre-set set-aside of between 10-20% of the IT procurement budget that will be used to procure Open Source products, even though strict adherence to a policy of purchasing on technical merit would suggest that proprietary products be purchased. The rationale for the de jure disparate treatment between proprietary and Open Source during this transitional period is the fact that a de facto disparate treatment currently exists that benefits proprietary and needs to be counter-balanced until Open Standards are implemented.
The South African Strategy requires that Open Standards are to be a prerequisite for all software development. It also says that discrimination and prejudice will be avoided in software procurement procedures to give Open Source and proprietary equal opportunity to be selected. However, the South African Strategy does not attempt to implement an interim policy to counter-balance the current slanting of the playing field towards proprietary until the policy goal of compliance with Open Standards is functional in the market.
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Appreciation of Social Value of Open Source Software
While government procurement policy should be neutral to ensure that governments do not introduce market distortions into the world economy, there should be an appreciation of the social benefits of fostering Open Source software development in a proper Open Source Government Policy plan.
These social benefits include wider access to government information by citizens, transparency in the functioning of the software running e-government services, ability to create an indigenous software industry, and better education and training of local IT professionals. These are substantial social benefits for a country that are unavailable at all or to the same degree from the proprietary software industry.
It should be noted that some commentators maintain that the social benefits for a country of Open Source software are so large that they should always trump the no a priori preferences principle. The Center of Open Source & Government cautions governments from placing the economic principles and social principles in opposition. With Open Source software the economic and social principles are not in competition and both are attainable simultaneously. Placing the social benefits above the requirement of a level playing field unnecessarily complicates public policy and can easily introduce unwanted market distortions with negative unintended consequences.?
However, if it were proven that a level playing field were to result in an enduring disadvantage to a country's social policies, it would be necessary to re-visit the issue of a proper balance between the economic and social policies. The Center of Open Source & Government currently holds, until shown otherwise, that the economic and social policies supplement and support each other, so artificially placing them in opposition is needless.
The South African Strategy recognizes the educational and commercial benefits of Open Source development and recommends that partnerships between academic, industry and government institutions be implemented. It also finds a clever balance between a neutral procurement policy and the social benefits of Open Source suggesting that in circumstances where the advantages and disadvantages of Open Source and proprietary software are equally strong, opting for Open Source is preferable, which is sensible.
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Phased Implementation
Given the disruptions and uncertainties inherent in moving from a proprietary framework to an Open Source one, phasing in an Open Source policy program is prudent to allow for piloting, education & training, capacity building, experimentation and experience learning.
The South African Strategy begins with a Neutral Approach and progresses through an Enabling Phase to an Aggressive Approach.
Conclusion
For the reasons given, The Center of Open Source & Government endorses the South African Policy Strategy.
Source: www.egovos.org
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