RTE (Réseau Transport d’Electricité), the electricity transmission system operator of France, has progressively increased its use of open source software since 2018 and has been including open source software in its procurement since 2019. Recently, RTE published a memo providing guidelines on including open source software in public procurement procedures.
Open source software – opportunities and challenges
In 2018, RTE decided to foster the adoption of open source software in order to achieve the needed level of digitalization of power systems in a cost efficient and simple way, as well as limit the risk of vendor lock-in. In this regard, the company adopted a new strategy which aimed to foster the development and use of open source software. Additionally, RTE became one of the founding members of LF Energy, a Linux Foundation project created in July 2018 that is dedicated to open source software in the energy sector. As a member of LF Energy, RTE published the source code on PowSyBl, its in-house developed open source Java library to assemble applications for electrical power systems' simulation and analysis. Lately, the company has decided to intensify its publication of open source software-specific calls for tenders.
Similar to any change of software strategy, RTE encountered some difficulties along the way. The main challenges pertained to the software licence itself, ensuring compliance with existing procurement legislation, and software governance. In order to assess how to adapt tenders so as to support RTE’s open source strategy while also ensuring legal compliance,RTE published the following guidelines: ‘Requiring a specific Open Source Software in public contracts – best practices to adopt’, which provide concrete examples of terms and conditions that could be included in tenders. The guidelines have been published under an Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).
‘Open source software is not a challenge, but an opportunity’, noted Lucian Balea (RTE R&D Program Director & Open Source Manager) in an interview to the OSOR team in April 2020. Mr. Balea deems it necessary to adapt public procurement approaches to be able to fully support and benefit from open source software. ‘Public procurement is difficult from an industrial point of view as it raises the issue of interoperability. With open source, this issue is reduced’, he added.
Software public procurement procedures have challenges that are not only specific to open source. When the contracting authorities are looking for innovative software solutions, the call for tender should be more open to smaller players as they are able to provide more customised services, give greater attention to client needs, and show more reactivity to the latest market developments. Therefore, the nature of the requested software also has an impact on the choice of the software provider. The position defended by RTE in its internal Charter for Responsible Contracting is that, following a case-by-case assessment, contracting authorities should be encouraged to work with smaller companies when possible, for the sake of innovation. This approach can facilitate a more active participation of open source software providers within public procurement and level the playing field to compete with bigger players. Finally, Mr. Boris Dolley (member of RTE’s Open Source Programme Office) noted that some highly skilled developers tend to work on a freelance basis – a practice which is not compatible with public procurement rules. Therefore, it can be challenging for contracting authorities to work with them when trying to ensure legal compliance. This challenge can be overcome by the ability to attract those professionals and foster in-house open source development.
Our interviewees also underlined the following open source software-specific issues and best-practises:
- Documentation and maintenance often form a part of the tender requirement. The open source community is usually unable to provide a guarantee or support with regards to documentation and bug fixing. Therefore, when an open source vendor is contracted, the contracting authority must specify, among others, their expectations with regards to functional and end-user documentation, as well as lifecycle support and maintenance. For Lucian Balea, the documentation and the maintenance ‘is not provided by the community, but it is manageable through procurement.’
- Governance should always be structured, transparent, and open in order to foster community sustainability and prevent vendor lock-in. Therefore, RTE advocates for open source projects to be registered in a foundation which will implement proven rules and guidelines, while providing a strong basis for convincing suppliers and/or partners. This governance method was confirmed as being useful in Mr. Balea and Mr. Dolley's field observations.
- IT infrastructuresmust be kept up to date. With new solutions emerging at a rapid pace, it is becoming increasingly necessary to build new modular and interoperable IT infrastructures.
A case-by-case decision
According to Lucian Balea, the ‘case-by-case’ principle is also applicable to the decision to develop software in-house and make its code publicly available, or to launch a call for tender. In the case of key software developments that are close to core business activities and competences, the in-house development of open source software, either partially or totally, may be preferential, helping public administrations to tailor the software to their needs and avoid interoperability issues. Furthermore, administrations will likely have a better understanding of the technology in place, thus helping them to make better informed decisions when outsourcing software development activities. However, Mr. Balea underlined that ‘it is neither realistic nor efficient to develop everything internally’.
Cultural change
In the case of RTE, the decision to switch to open source software was taken by the company's top management. In order to make the transition work, cultural barriers to the use of open source software had to be broken down. In RTE’s experience, the publication of guidelines and research papers regarding public procurement and open source software helped procurement departments to adapt their procedures. Furthermore, explaining the benefits of open source software and the prospect of less vendor lock-in also helped the transition.
Want to learn more?
- Todogroup.org: an open group of companies which shares best practices, tools, and other recommendations on how to run successful open source projects and programs.
- The study published by RTE on public procurement.
- LFenergy: Linux Foundation group specialised in open source projects in the energy sector.