European government agencies should pool resources by sharing
common open-source software, according to a study published on
Monday by the European Commission.
Open-source software "could be usefully used as a source of
inspiration for member states to develop good and interactive
public services in the future to the benefit of Europe's citizens",
said commissioner for enterprise and the information society, Erkki
Liikanen.
According to another recent report published by the European
Information Technology Observatory, European Union public sector
expenditures on so-called e-government initiatives are expected to
rise by 28% to €6.6bn (£4.3bn) this year.
Sharing open-source software could help cut "soaring e-government
information technology costs", the commission said.
Although software would probably need to be customised to local
linguistic and legal requirements, sharing these tools could lead
to across-the-board improvements in efficiency of the European
public sector, the commission said.
The study suggests that software developed for and owned by
government agencies should be issued under an open-source licence.
It also recommends that a software-pooling process be established
for the entire EU because it would provide quality guarantees and
help resolve questions of liability that often inhibit the sharing
of developments.
"Sharing competence and good practices is more urgent than sharing
software," the commission said.
"More than simply providing software, the pooling facility should
thus make available expertise and help create a community of
developers, users and policy makers, providing opportunities for
increased co-operation, notably in software development and
testing."