This presentation by Serafín Olcoz (Director of Informatics and Telecommunications for the Basque Government) motivates a new Decree soon to be issued by the Basque government (see Joinup news item of June 12 ) to stimulate the sharing and reuse of software by public administrations.
The decree - which will be released to the general public in the second half of 2012 - will increase the transparency of how public administrations spend their ICT budgets on software development. In particular, the decree will require public administrations to publish the following information:
- Functional specifications and reusable component architecture. Before starting the development of any software, public administrations must publish a report with the functional specifications of the software including a report on software components that will be reused. This will make the software procurement process that public administrations have to follow more transparent. Any citizen can investigate why a particular public administration is reinventing the wheel by developing its own software components and packages.
- Planned milestones. Similarly, public administrations should publish a detailed planning for the development of the components, including the functional, structural and technological characteristics of each of the steps planned, as well as the cost of each one
- Dependencies of 3rd parties. A report on the dependence on products belonging to third parties. The report should detail whether dependence is temporary or permanent and if their elimination is expected. If this is the case the expected date and total cost of this should be listed.
- Source code.Release the source code under an open licence, such as the European Union Public Licence.
According to Mr Olcoz, the vision behind the decree is to create a knowledge-based economy where the open-source software shared by public administrations creates a new ecosystem in which both public administrations and private-sector ICT service providers benefit from a virtuous cycle of sharing and reusing open-source software.
The draft decree “to regulate the opening and reutilisation of computer applications in the public sector of the autonomous community of Euskadi” mentions that the Basque Public Administrations and related parties should comply with the following six principles:
- Responsibility Principle by obliging the reuse software already developed, to the extent that these may satisfy the requirements.
- Principle of Open Innovation by combining internal knowledge with external knowledge in order to develop technological projects that result in a continual improvement of public services.
- Principle of Cooperation betwee Public Administrations: the public sector shall make the software that it develops, freely available and free of charge to other Public Administrations.
- Principle of Efficient Collaboration between the public and private sector for the development of a knowledge-based economy based on shared knowledge and mutually reinforcing contributions.
- Principle of Technological Neutrality and Adaptability: avoid lock-by using exclusively open standards.
- Principle of Transparency: public administrations must not only make the source code publicly available, but also the functional sepcifications, planning, and third-party dependencies.
Related articles
- 3Rs applied to Open Apps, http://pip.blog.euskadi.net/?p=3540
Nature of documentation: Policy/Strategy papers