They began releasing software in the 1990s long before the federal source code policy required government. But weaknesses in source code and design, unpatched vulnerabilities, and inadequate application security practices all expose your organization and constituents to significant risk. In the coming months, we will launch a new website code. In addition to streamlining software use in the federal government, the white house wants code. While the government has long used open source software and. Thanks 18f would like to thank the consumer financial protection bureau, department of defense, and office of management and budget for their work in blazing the path for the use of foss in the federal government. An important fix for the federal open source software policy. Government data is a constant target for malicious activity by both individual and statesponsored hackers. To give you more insight as to the government s use of open source software, we sat down with wes caldwell, chief architect, intelligent software solutions iss. As open source goes mainstream, institutions collaborate. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal government site. Below are only a few resources that may help departments and agencies understand the value of open source software and development communities within the public sector, as well as how public institutions can engage with. Opensource governance also known as open politics is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open source and open content movements to. The code is often written collaboratively, and it can be downloaded.
Earlier this year, we noted that the federal government was looking to further embrace open source software in its process of contracting out for or creating in house code. Anyone, especially local, state, and foreign governments are welcome to borrow the code behind data. An important fix for the federal open source software. Open source software and open standards in the government. Visit the it software hallway on the acquisition gateway to find and compare all it software offerings from gsa. In that article, i noted that the growing use of open source software by governments has shifted from whether to use to how to deploy. New omb policy aims to make federal agency code open source.
Government agencies at the national, state, and local level use github to share and collaborate. Our public project management tool provides a birds eye view of all of the open source work currently being done on data. Serve as the community leader in driving code reuse and open source. The us government and opensource software linux journal. Open source software under secretary of defense for.
Index free and open source software designed for state and federal government services marctjonesgoss. Publicly releasing open source software developed for the. The white house and the federal government will begin to make a major commitment to open source software this summer. Earlier this year, we noted that the federal government was looking to further embrace open source software in its process of contracting out for or creating in house. There are two senses in which we may use open source in our programs. How open source differs to open standards open source is a way of developing and distributing software. If the federal government has to release the software it produces to the public domain rather than under an open source license there would almost certainly be some. Government is committed to improving the way federal agencies buy, build, and deliver information technology it and software solutions to better support cost efficiency, mission effectiveness, and the consumer experience with government programs. Open source technologies, communities, and methodologies are playing an increasingly important role in international governments and policymaking. Gsa open source policy gsas agencywide open source policy, created based on ombs m1621 policy. Opening the source of the software developed by the federal government will be highly beneficial to tech companies and innovators all over the country and the rest of the world. The goal of making federal source code more accessible is to increase sharing and reduce costs of duplicative software purchases, said scott. But the use of more open source software in the federal government can help to offset these two problems, and as good stewards, it is our duty to do so where possible. The bbc reports that president obama has asked former sun ceo scott mcnealy to report on the relative benefits of open source software.
Achieving efficiency, transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software the u. This includes working towards being 100% open source and taking an active government leadership role in open sourcing. Make your public agency more effective and accountable with opengov, the worlds first integrated software solution for budgeting, performance reporting, online citizen engagement, and open. Achieving efficiency, transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software, dated august 8, 2016. Read about the benefits and challenges of open source. White house proposes government opensource software sd. Many local, regional, and national governments are engaged with open source software and communities. It released a draft policy which was good, though we hoped the final product would be much stronger for example, it pushed for a portion of any code to be released. Open source software defense federal acquisition regulation supplement. This policy mandates that at least 20% of custom source code developed by or for any agency of the federal government must be released as opensource.
The federal register is the official journal of the federal government of the united states that contains publications and public notices of government agencies. This can directly affect whether and when the government may be obliged to provide source. In a recent article in government computer news, i looked at the challenge of reshaping federal it with open source without goitalone government offtheshelf approaches to open source software. The purpose of the policy is to improve access to custom software code developed for the federal government, and would require that. Whatever happens, even if the initial solution provider fails to complete an implementation or no longer supports its product, governments retain the right to use and modify the open source software. How open source fits into government it strategy where appropriate, government will procure open source solutions. The white house will release a draft policy thursday for sharing source code among federal agencies, including a pilot program that will make a portion of federal code open source. Cio tony scott said the program will save taxpayer dollars by avoiding duplicative software. Government software is designed to better manage your local government, municipality, or whatever jurisdiction you may be overseeing. Powering more effective and accountable government opengov.
Thats why maintaining security in todays complex application landscape is paramount for government. I was also concerned about it allowing software developed by federal government employees to be locked up by a license something that im. In practice, nearly all open source software is released under one of a very few licenses that are known to meet this definition. As agencies across the federal government take steps to improve access to their source code, the amount of available federal open source software will grow. Open data in the united states numerous states, cities, and counties have launched open data sites. If you dont see your organization on this list, follow the instructions.
These licenses include the mit license, revised bsd license and its 2clause variant, the apache 2. The federal government has supported the use of open source software not affiliated with the united states office of personnel management or any government agency march 25, 2020. Leveraging american ingenuity through reusable and open. Today, the federal government is already building some of our most important projects using open source. Recognizing the potential benefits of open source, a number of private sector companies have also shifted some of their software development projects to an open source model. Specifically, the order outlines requirements for implementing open source code produced by andor for the agency in accordance with omb memorandum m1621, federal source code policy. Thus, oss available to the public and used unchanged is normally cots. The latest evidence is the office of management and budgets draft federal. The worry of some open source advocates is that the people who respond to the government s request will try to blur the distinction between free proprietary software and open source software.
Governments federal source code policy mandates 20. How to use more open source in your next federal it. Should software created by the federal govt be open. I feel that open data and open source software can really complement each other, and access to the software facilitates effective use of the data. Serve as the community leader in driving code reuse and open source development to decrease code spend while increasing code quality. I would love to see the software tools developed within the federal government available to the public under an open source license. We are americas primary platform for aggregating open source software from the federal government. In an attempt to reduce duplicating government it and software resources, the us federal government recently announced the federal source code policy, which requires new customdeveloped source code used by federal agencies to be made available for sharing and reuse government. Just as government departments can reduce costs by sharing source. Opening government data increases citizen participation in government. To establish a framework to implement the requirements of the office of management and budgets omb federal source code policy to achieve efficiency, transparency and. Transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software. Us government now has an official open source software policy.
Open source software open government, government of canada. Publication of customdeveloped code as oss each agency shall release as oss at least 20 percent of its new customdeveloped code 29 each year for the term of the pilot program. Adoption of free and opensource software by public institutions. The growing use of open source software by governments has shifted from whether to use to how to deploy. Federal register defense federal acquisition regulation.
When used in conjunction with compulsory open standards, open source. A discussion on open source software and open standards in public administration took place last week at the canada school of public service. What are the risks that open source software may include proprietary or ed material incorporated into the open source software without the authorization of the actual author, thereby exposing the government and contractors who use or deliver the open source software. A few weeks ago we submitted comments to the office of management and budgets omb draft federal source code policy. Achieving efficiency, transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software. With open source, scott said, the federal government.
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