The OpenSAGA project aims to provide a development platform for e-government applications that are compliant with the SAGA standard. The technical approach uses an executable web application model, graphical modeling, and the Eclipse IDE. The communal approach involves public sector partners, scientific councils, sponsors, and integration partners. After one year, there was a lack of knowledge about SAGA, lack of community and trust in open source for the public sector. Missing links include open source strategy, marketing, and lobbying in the public sector. Lessons learned are that a commercially viable open source approach exists with tangible benefits for the public sector.