Open Source is now in day to day use in Governments across Europe – some with great success, but others are still using it to a degree well below its opportunity level. But why is this? Is it because of lack of understanding or trust, is it because of lack of political will or leadership, is it because it is just too difficult because of past technical decisions? Or all of these? Are the blockers to progress technical, financial or political? Or all of these? A new report to be published by the London School of Economics for the UK Government, and which will be previewed during the talk, examines the TCO of Open Source for Government, but also examines the wider drivers and opportunities. Maybe here are the clues on just how we can increase the momentum for its use across Government.

2. Open Source in Government
Graham Taylor
CEO, OpenForum Europe

3. European Government is Failing to
Effectively Utilise OSS
........ But why?
........ And what can we do about it?

4. Some Relevant Facts
● European Public Procurement is worth €2200 B, representing
19.4% GDP
● ICT accounted for approx €600Billion
● Software and Services approx €400Billion
● Approx 18% can be monitored via OJEU procedure
● Actual OSS value ?????
● 13% still illegally include trade marks/product names
● Use of 'negotiated procedures' on increase

5. Governments are adopting a
level playing field strategy......
● Even the UK...........
“Where appropriate, government will procure open source
solutions. When used in conjunction with compulsory open
standards, open source presents significant opportunities
for the design and delivery of interoperable solutions. "
● But the Strategy is not yet being turned into Practice
● This is not due to lack of Political will
● And it is European wide
● Albeit with notable exceptions
● BUT WHY?

6. Why Strategy Doesn't Equal Practice
- Results of an OFE Analysis
● Culture
● Legacy Contracts
● Financial Targets
● Perceived Risks and Myths
● Network Effects
● Inertia
● Audit
plus
● The SME Effect
● Skills?
● Understanding of TCO

7. Cost is an Issue for all Governments, but
not all are convinced it is part of the solution
● OFE and the UKG Cabinet Office jointly sponsored LSE
Research
● Nothing revolutionary in results but drove some interesting
conclusions
● Research to be published shortly
● So this is only an appetiser!
● 'Total Cost of Ownership'
● Interviews were with existing users of OSS
● Only 23% can used a formal TCO assessment
● So results had to identify where benefits made

8. Organisations Indicated that.....

9. Building our Cost Categories

10. Ease of Estimation?

11. Software Life Cycle
Software
Specific:
Search Cost of up-front evaluation study
Cost of up-front proof of concept implementation
Acquisition Cost of Software
Cost of Customisation for business needs
Cost of Integration (to current platform)
Integration Cost of Migration (data and users)
Cost of Training
Cost of Process and Best Practice change
Use Cost of Support services - in house
Cost of Support services - contracted
Cost of Maintenance and Upgrades
Software scaling (for change in user or transaction volumes)
Retire Exit costs (in relation to hardware and software)
Exit costs (in relation to changeover, re-training)

12. Software-related Benefits of OSS Adoption
- OSS helps the organization to better manage risk during
the selection process – procurement decisions do not
need to be made in one action, but instead can be
‘worked up to’
- Useful negotiation tool in making deals with proprietary
vendors
- Builds a stronger, and more expert local IT/IS industry by
encouraging regional developers, SMEs
- Migration costs between OSS products is lower as OSS
is often based on open standards

13. Broader Benefits of OSS Adoption
- Greater flexibility, freedom and control over the code
- Reliability, transparency and greater security of code –
many countries are using OSS to create, and hold
details of their national ID cards
- Building of in-house expertise and skills – making you
less reliant on external support
- Allows pooling of resources, expertise and code for
reuse, customization, and change

14. Organizational Benefits
Organization Specific:
Strategic lever Open source software has been used as a cheaper option to help
stimulate competition.
Dependence Open source helps prevent against upgrade lock-in by a
particular vendor.
Empowerment Open source software encourages empowerment and the ability
to change software as needed through access to the source
code and reliance on open standards.
Innovation driver Open source can inspire and drive innovation because it is
accessible to view and change – but at the same time, it creates
an atmosphere conducive to making mistakes and learning from
them.

15. Benefits through Creation of an Ecosystem
Software Eco-System
Specific:
Platform co-creation Open source software can be pooled, shared and built upon to
create a platform which encourages reuse and co-creation.
Collaborative competition The adoption of open source software helps to nurture the local IT
industry by levelling the playing field, and encourage
collaborative competition.
Building in-house expertise Open source software can help to empower the organisation and
help develop in-house expertise through access to a
knowledgeable community, source code, and an environment
which implies sharing and reciprocity.
Principle of mutuality The use, adoption and development of open source software can
create experts which can then be used as a shared resource
across local authorities and central government.

16. What is holding your organisation back from
using open source?
OS related issues
Understanding Licences and license compliance
Availability of specific apps
Some OSS is very immature, inferior user interfaces
Sometimes proprietary alternatives are simply better
Feature completeness
[Lack of a] community backing the open source project
Product related issues
Poor coverage in ERP arena ; Lack of availability of open source software for our industry
Incomplete implementations; Not working correctly
Very complex code bases (and communities)

17. What is holding your organisation back from
using open source?
Organisation related issues
Unclear Procurement policy
Value for money
Misinformation among upper level management; Lack of knowledge of key technical decision
makers; Time availability
Support issues
Lack of in-house support; lack of in-house knowledge;
Understanding by staff; Poor support of open standards by our business partners; Support
worries; Requirements for external support contracts
Environment issues
Desire to have specific software; SAP Legacy
Compatibility with Microsoft proprietary file formats
Perceived Lack of acceptance of OSS for Public sector solutions
Proprietary standards used by environment (govt & clients)

18. Lessons for the Public Sector
• Pragmatism needs to guide open source adoption and not ideology
• Open source is not just or only or always about ‘cheap’. But it can bring
a number of distinct and enduring benefits when contrasted to
strategies based around proprietary software
• Migrating to open source is more likely to be successful if it is done
when there is a real and present need for change, rather than simply
on the basis of finding open source attractive on infrastructure cost
arguments
• Adoption and development of open source can support the sharing of
both expertise and expense between government bodies, for example
among local authorities forming a flexible route to collaboration

19. Lessons for Us
● The Benefits are real, but maybe we need to be better at
explaining them
● Political 'need' and ownership is a must
● TCO is fundamental but we have to be prepared to explain and
justify the wider benefits
● Procurement policy and practice will be the single largest
challenge
● Just because it is OS doesn't automatically make it better than
alternatives – we have to be as professional, as complete as
competitors
● Relationships will be important, confidence building will be
essential

20. Thank You
Graham Taylor
graham@openforumeurope.org
www.openforumeurope.org