UKGovOSS - Open Source Government CommunityPublic Sector Forums

Public Sector Forums reports that IT suppliers could be blocked from bidding for government contracts unless they can show they have seriously considered using open source software.

The decision was made at a recent summit meeting of the Government’s Chief Information Officer Council, its local government counterpart and sister body the Chief Technology Officer Council.

Minutes from the meeting, which are now available here, suggest cross-government agreement on what appear to be radical changes in the Government’s approach towards IT procurement, including updating the tender process ‘to ensure bids will be conformant to agreed strategies’.

This meeting report goes on to say a requirement will be included that ’suppliers must demonstrate actual review of open source products else bid will be rejected as non compliant’.  Specifically, suppliers who fail to meet the Government’s new requirements would be ‘down selected’ at the pre-qualification stage in any procurement.

As some will be aware, this development coincides with recent criticism by open source vendors that since the publication of the Government’s Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use strategy in February this year, there has been little evidence of change in public sector procurement practices.

Further details about the policy are expected to be given in the Government’s new IT strategy, due out in December.

Well, in case you weren’t already aware, the event scheduled for 25 November has had to be postponed for a few months.

While we had really excellent support from sponsors and speakers, we felt there just wasn’t enough participants to make it worthwhile for those attending.  As we’ve seen at our first event in Manchester earlier this year, a lot of the value in gatherings like this comes from the opportunities for networking, discussion and interaction among those taking part.

So while this is really disappointing for us, particularly after the success of the Manchester conference and the hard work put into the London event, the good thing is what we’ve learned from this will allow us to build a better and more valuable event in the future.  Our thanks again to all those who offered their support, and also our apologies to all those looking forward to the event.

But onwards and upwards. All being well, we’re hoping to schedule the event early on in 2010, so stay tuned for news as and when.