Open source software cheaper option for government bodies

December 22, 2008:

Among government bodies targeted are the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) and the Kenya ICT board. PPOA is mandated to enforce and oversee the implementation of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act. An Act which the organisation says is being flouted, thus locking them out of public tenders.

Linux says the use of open source software will not only save the Government lots of money, but also create employment for small and medium entrepreneurs engaged in software development locally.

The move comes barely five weeks after the Information minister, Mr Samuel Poghisio, directed that all government bodies ensure that half of their budgets on software is spent on locally developed software so as to boost the sector.

Linux is engaging PPOA with an aim of coming up with solutions on how the authority could help government bodies when tendering for software.

Although the public procurement and disposal Act states that tendering documents should not refer to a particular trade mark, name patent or producer or service provider, software tendering documents from a number of ministries always specifies that the software should be from a particular firm or brand, thus locking local FOSS providers out of competition.

Linux Professional Association says the law has been flouted by agents, leading to FOSS members being locked out of  public contracts. “We would like to see a situation where there is a level playing ground,” said Mr Evans Ikua, the chairman of Linux.

High fees

A research commissioned by the group found that 99 per cent of software used by the government is proprietary. Spending on software by government ministries has nearly doubled in the last two years. Statistics from the Ministry of Finance show that in the financial 2006/2007 the  Government spent Sh254,501,543 on software.

This figure increased to Sh580,686,819 in the financial year 2007/2008. The association notes that this expenditure can be reduced by more than 60 per cent. Proprietary software requires users to pay licensing fees that amount to billions of shillings for heavy users such as the Government.

Use of FOSS codes on the other hand is free. However, consumers are required to pay for training or cost of customising the software to fit specific needs.
“Many proprietary software vendors have turned to donating software to the education sector with subsidised licensing agreements.

This is a dangerous precedence which must be rejected by the government as it will lead to vendor lock-in, with the vendors gaining a firm foothold in the market and later holding the country at ransom with high licensing fee  for their software,” said Mr Ikua.

Article from: bdafrica.com