Government announces approach for standardizing systems
The UK Cabinet Office has published a set of Open Standards Principles in March 2012, aiming to promote flexibility, sustainability, and competition in government technology procurements.
These principles are designed to ensure that central government departments use open standards in their IT specifications, thereby removing potential barriers to digital participation and avoiding undue cost to citizens and businesses.
One of the key objectives of the Open Standards Principles is to prioritise the needs of users in standards choices. This means that decisions about standards will be made with the aim of providing the best possible user experience, rather than favouring specific brands or products.
The Open Standards Principles also aim to create a level playing field for open source and proprietary software. This resolves a dispute over whether a software company can call a standard 'open' if it charges users for the right to use it.
According to a survey conducted by the government, 68% of respondents believe that mandating open standards would improve competition between suppliers. Furthermore, 72% believe that it would lead to better value for money in government IT, while 58% do not believe that it would necessarily lead to cheaper software.
The policy applies to central government departments, but the Cabinet Office aims to promote the principles to all public bodies in the UK. The government hopes that this policy will encourage reuse of software across departments and potentially lead to single shared systems for particular functions.
By selecting open standards for software interoperability, data, and document formats in government IT specifications, the government hopes to support supplier competition on a level playing field. This, in turn, should lead to improved scrutiny of activity and the generation of added value for taxpayers.
However, a lack of common standards can make it difficult for users to scrutinise activity or generate added value. To address this issue, the Open Standards Principles state that open standards should be royalty free, with rights essential to implementation licensed on a royalty-free basis.
In conclusion, the UK government's Open Standards Principles are a significant step towards improving competition, value for money, and digital participation in government IT. By prioritising user needs and creating a level playing field for open source and proprietary software, the government aims to foster a more efficient and accessible public sector.
