Synopsis of Government Open Source Policy

The main action points of this updated policy state:

• The Government will actively and fairly consider open source solutions alongside proprietary ones in making procurement decisions, and embed an ‘open source’ culture of sharing, re–use and collaborative development across Government and its suppliers
• Procurement decisions will be made on the basis on the best value for money solution to the business requirement,  
• The Government will expect those putting forward IT solutions to develop where necessary a suitable mix of open source and proprietary products to ensure that the best possible overall solution can be considered.
• Where there is no significant overall cost difference between open and non-open source products, open source will be selected on the basis of its additional inherent flexibility.
• Ensure that systems integrators and proprietary software suppliers demonstrate the same flexibility and ability to re–use their solutions and products as is inherent in open source.
• The Government will, wherever possible, avoid becoming locked in to proprietary software.
• The Government will use open standards in its procurement specifications and require solutions to comply with open standards. The Government will support the development of open standards and specifications.
• The Government will look to secure full rights to bespoke software code or customisations of commercial off the shelf products it procures, so as to enable straightforward re-use elsewhere in the public sector.
• When suppliers are proposing a third party product there should be full price transparency. The Government will expect to be charged only the cost the supplier incurs unless the supplier can clearly and transparently provide evidence of the additional value created.