Public Sector: Computer Software

Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 30 November 2011.

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Photo of Tom Blenkinsop Tom Blenkinsop Opposition Whip (Commons)

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether his Department has considered encouraging public bodies and central Government Departments to use open source software; and how many such bodies have began using open source software since May 2010.

Photo of Nick Hurd Nick Hurd The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office recognises that in certain circumstances open source solutions present opportunities for improved value for money and can stimulate a more competitive IT marketplace.

Its position is to introduce a level playing field where both open source and proprietary software will be evaluated and the solution that offers best value for money, when the total cost of ownership has been calculated, will be selected. To assist Departments and bodies when evaluating open source solutions, the Cabinet Office has published an Open Source Procurement Toolkit, which is available at:

https://update.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-source-procurement-toolkit

As part of the Strategic Implementation Plan that followed the Government IT strategy, the Cabinet Office is collecting and will publish publishing metrics, including the total number of open source software solutions deployed by central Government Departments. These will be published in the ICT Strategy Progress update in March 2012.

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