Financial incentives are the main motives for public administration to share and re-use ICT solutions, according to a study published on Joinup 5 March. Chances of success for such projects are highest when public administrations decide to share their ICT infrastructure services, offer their software as a service or when they centralise their procurement services.
The study 'Business models for Sharing and Re-use' examines the rationale for public administration's strategies for sharing and re-use. The report inspects several examples of public administration sharing the development of tools and re-use of existing tools. Examples include the European Commission's e-procurement solution Open e-PRIOR, Switzerland's selection criteria to funding its e-government priorities, the Belgian quasi-autonomous municipal ICT organisation IMIO and the Swedish procurement approach for free and open source solutions.
The study also looks at existing models for shared services, and practical ways to share maintenance and development of common solutions.
Increase competition
In total, twelve concrete cases are studied, and the key enablers identified. In the Swedish procurement approach, for example, the legal and organisational aspects prove decisive. Companies that want to participate in such a framework approach will also need to demonstrate their involvement in the open source community. And the French OpenMairie framework offers a way to increase competition in a market dominated by a few proprietary vendors. In OpenMairie municipalities share the development of software targeted to their business needs.
The report is one of a three-part series. A second study reviewed the governance methods for ten of the twelve cases. A third report, titled 'Guidelines and templates for agreements', offers templates and guidelines to be used for creating agreements for collaboration and for sharing and re-use of assets.
More information:
Business models for Sharing and Re-use
Governance Models for Sharing and Re-use
Guidelines and templates for agreements