GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013

8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013

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O F T H E


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A G E N C Y O F T H E F U T U R E

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

S U R V E Y R E S U L T SE X P L O R I N G T H E O P E N - S O U R C E L A N D S C A P E

A C R O S S G O V E R N M E N T

O P E N S O U R C E I N O P E N S P A C EL E S S O N S F R O M N A S A S J E T P R O P U L S I O N

L A B O R A T O R Y

I S G O V E R N M E N T T H E

U L T I M A T E E X P E R I M E N T I N

O P E N S O U R C E ?

E X P E R T I N S I G H T SL E V E R A G I N G T H E V A L U E O F O P E N S O U R C E I N

G O V E R N M E N T

5 W A Y S O P E N S O U R C E W I L L

I M P A C T T H E A G E N C Y O F T H E

F U T U R E

O P E N - S O U R C E C H E A T S H E E T

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S


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A G E N C Y O F T H E F U T U R E

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

O P E N S O U R C E

A new paradigm the shared economy has emergedand reshaped business practices, governments andour private lives. This shared economy has affectedsociety in dozens of ways: We share bikes, cars, nan-

nies, skills and even our homes. Crowdsourced ser-vices are changing our social fabric and altering howwe share knowledge. As a result, we must ask our-

selves this question: If we are so committed to thepower of sharing in our private lives, why not do thesame with software in our agencies?

Through GovLoops research initiatives to define theagency of the future, we have consistently foundone important trend in government: open-sourcetechnology. Open source holds great potential to

reimagine business processes and how services aredelivered in the public sector. Government agencieshave used open-source solutions in a variety of ways,

including powering websites and running internal

communications platforms. Weve seen how agenciescan tailor open-source solutions to fit organizat ionalneeds.

As with any kind of information technology initiativeor program, government agencies must consider themission value when adopting open source, and they

must understand the costs, risks and opportunitiesassociated with it. We have created this report to

cut through the hype to clarify how open source cantransform your agency and prepare it for the future.Specifically, this report includes:

Survey results from 233 government profession-als , with 73 percent citing security as the leadingbarrier to adopting open-source solutions and 58

percent reporting use of open source today.

An interview with Chris Mattmann, senior com-puter scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Labo-ratory and adjunct assistant professor at the Uni-versity of Southern California.

An interview with Gunnar Hellekson, chief tech-nology strategist at Red Hats U.S. public-sectorbusiness.

Insights on how open source will affect govern-

mentin the next three to five years.

A public-sector open-source cheat sheet thatsummarizes this guide and provides need-to-know open-source information.

The bottom line: Open source offers a bright spot ingovernment innovation and can help launch agenciesinto the future.


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> fromGovLoop_Guide importSection_1


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As we explore how government agencies are usingopen source, remember that open-source adoptionis not confined to the IT department. For it to con-

tinue to take root, agency leaders must embrace anew way of thinking about software and get supportfrom other employees.

ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE

IN GOVERNMENT

In response to budget cuts and limited resources,governments worldwide are exploring open sourceas a means to meet growing demand from citizensand to help employees fufill mission-centric initia-

tives, our survey found. Specifically, the GovLoop

survey found that 58 percent of respondents saidthey are currently using open source in some capac-ity. (See Figure 1.) The survey also found that:

38 percent of respondents are using open sourceat a basic level.

30 percent are not using open sourcebut wouldlike to learn more.

20 percent rely on open sourceto meet agencygoals.

12 percent are currently exploring ways to lever-ageopen source.

S U R V E Y R E S U L T S

E X P L O R I N G T H E O P E N -

S O U R C E L A N D S C A P E

A C R O S S G O V E R N M E N T



WHAT ARE THE

BENEFITS OF OPEN

SOURCE FOR THE

PUBLIC SECTOR?

Adopting open-source technologyprovides a great opportunity forthe government, our survey found.

Seventy-one percent of respon-

dents said the main benefits fromopen source are resource manage-ment and cost control. (See Figure

2.) Other results show that:

70 percent named improved

efficiency and productivity asbenefits.

70 percent have used the

open-source community forsoftware improvements.

61 percent highlighted the ease

of information exchange.

54 percent noted the ability to

build once and replicate as a

benefit.

One respondent cited education

as a leading benefit, saying, Opensource educates users for greaterproblem solving.

Open source also has opened thedoor for increased training andstaff development at governmentagencies. Open source builds the

skills and expertise of your staff,

a respondent said.

Another benefit: Agencies do nothave to deal with proprietary ven-

dors and outdated solutions, mak-ing the agency more agile. Opensource enables lower cost solu-tions and innovation, a respon-

dent said.

Survey takers also said open

source allows agencies to controlcosts so they are not at the mercyof software vendors for upgrades.Finally, respondents agreed that

when done correctly, open sourceleads to codevelopment of knowl-edge and collaboration amongstakeholders.

FIGURE 1:ARE YOUR USING

OPEN SOURCE AT YOUR

AGENCY?

FIGURE 2:WHAT ARE THE

BENEFITS OF OPENSOURCE?

38%

71%70%70%61%

54%

30%

20%

12%using open sourceat a basic level

not using open source but

would like to learn more

resource management and cost control

improved efficiency and productivity

the open-source community for software improvements

ease of information exchange

ability to build once and replicate as a benefit

rely on open source to

meet agency goals

currently exploring ways toleverage open source


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Although 58 percent of respon-dents said they are using opensource to meet mission needs,their applications of the software

varied. These findings show howopen source can be used in manyways to meet organizational de-mands and objectives. Our survey

also identified six open-sourcetrends, which are highlighted be-low. They show how open source

has helped agencies create theagency of the future.

Modernizing and CreatingCompelling Websites

The most common way agencieshave used open source is to sup-

port web development. Respon-dents provided many examplesof websites that are powered by

open-source software. An em-ployee in Austin, Texas, said, Aus-tintexas.gov is the city of Austinsofficial website and is built using

Drupal. Another respondent saidmany state government agencywebsites use WordPress, a publish-ing platform and content manage-

ment system (CMS), and Drupal,a free, open-source content man-agement service, which is written

in PHP and is distributed underthe GNU Public License. Drupalalso powers the White House andFederal Emergency Management

Agency websites.

Addit ionally, Washington, D.C., hasembraced open source, a District

employee said. We have success-fully implemented Drupal 7 asthe Districts enterprise content

management system for DC.gov,the governments web portal, theperson said.

Respondents also provided spe-cific examples from the federalgovernments use of open-sourcesoftware. One comes from Data.

gov, the warehouse of federal dataand one of President Obamas sig-nature open-government initia-tives.

Data.gov runs entirely on opensource. We started out on Drupal

and now we are moving to Word-Press. Our data catalog is [basedon the Comprehensive Knowledge

Archive Network] (headed by theOpen Knowledge Foundation). Weput all our custom development inGitHub, [a web-based hosting ser-vice]. Our open data interchange

format (data.json) is crowd-sourced via project open data. Werun on Linux and use open-source

databases like MySQL and Post-GreSQL, said one federal govern-ment employee.

Respondents also said they useopen-source technology such asWordPress, the Joomla! CMS andDrupal for web development proj-

ects.

Powering Productiv-ity through Open OfficeSuites

Other examples of open-source

adoption that respondents citedincluded using productivity suites.All our desktop publishing, allweb properties, collaborative en-

vironments and most databaseuse open-source technology, oneuser said. Another added, We

have success with OpenOffice, andwe are evaluating an [enterprise

resource planning] open-sourceplatform.

Several survey respondents said

they use the Apache OpenOfficesuite, which is free software thatprovides users with word proces-sers, spreadsheets, graphics and

database management software.

Intranet and Internal Com-munications

Additionally, government is using

open source to improve internalcommunications and collaborationtools such as intranets. Apache,PHP and MySQL were the founda-tion for many of our quick deploy-

ment solutions for the intranetand public website, along witha number of turnkey CMS solu-

tions, a respondent said.

Our intranet, which has 120,000users, is based on Drupal and

[Apache] Struts with a PostgreSQLdatabase, another respondentsaid. This took awhile to migratethe original intranet (hardcoded

HTML), but it has been worth mi-grating.

An additional example of opensource for internal communica-tions comes from Arvada, Colo.We have successfully implement-

ed an open-source content man-agement system written by thecity of Arvada and we are sharingthe code, a city employee said.

We also use Joomla! for our in-tranet.

SURVEY FINDINGS:

OPEN-SOURCE TRENDS



FACILITATING

EMERGING

TRENDS: BIG

DATA, CLOUD AND

MOBILE

Some survey participants men-tioned open-source tools such as

Hadoop, MySQL and Linux. Ha-doop allows agencies to quicklyand inexpensively process data,regardless of structure. MySQL

is the most popular open-sourcerelational database managementsystem and is used across all levelsof government. Linux is an open-

source operating system. These

trends are important to note be-cause with the growth of big data

initiatives, cloud computing andmobile, open source is playing anessential role in helping agenciesfind value from the data they are

collecting, storing and managing.

Crowdsourcing CustomApplications

In addition to helping web devel-opment, content management and

office productivity suites, opensource has also been used to de-velop custom applications to sup-port missions. Two respondents

identified unique federal projectsthat have used open-source soft-ware for meeting agency needs.The Department of Energy has

joined forces with [the NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory]

on an energy modeling tool calledEnergyPlus, which runs on some-thing called OpenStudio Applica-tion Suite (http://apps1.eere.en-ergy.gov/buildings/energyplus/), a

department employee wrote. Itis an open-source-based softwaretool developed by NREL for DOE.This is a huge success in terms of

DOEs use/development of opensource. NREL expertise is whathas allowed the development anduse of open source.

At the U.S. Agency for Internation-al Development, employees are

using open source to create maps.

USAIDs GeoCenter has beenexploring the use of the Open-

StreetMap (OSM) base layer forour work, an agency worker said.OSM is an openly licensed mapcreated and maintained by a global

network of volunteers. In many

cases, in very poor and/or ruralareas around the world, OSM rep-

resents the best geospatial option,better even than Google Maps orMicrosofts Bing Maps. This freelyavailable, freely licensed data saves

the agency a lot of money in out-sourced maintenance and initialmapping.

The Global Impact of OpenSource

Although there are many exam-

ples of open source at work inthe United States, organizations

worldwide have used such tech-nology to meet agency demand.Our survey was predimonetlyU.S.-focused, but GovLoop did

receive responses from users inother countries. For example, arespondent in the United King-dom called attention to the report

Open Standards Principles: Forsoftware inteoprerability, data and

document formats in governmentIT specifications in which U.K.leaders provided seven open stan-dards principles for open source:

1. We place the needs of our us-ers at the heart of our standardschoices.

The Department of Energy has joined force

[the National Renewable Energy Laboratory]

energy modeling tool called EnergyPlus

At the U.S. Agenc y for Internat ional Deve lopment,

employees are using open source to create maps

powered by OpenStreetMap.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/)http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/)https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78892/Open-Standards-Principles-FINAL.pdfhttp://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/)http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/)


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2. Our selected open standardswill enable suppliers to competeon a level playing field.

3. Our standards choices supportflexibility and change.

4. We adopt open standards thatsupport sustainable cost.

5. Our decisions on standards se-

lection are well informed.

6. We select open standards usingfair and transparent processes.

7. We are fair and transparent inthe specification and implementa-

tion of open standards.An employee from the Dutch gov-ernment also provided an interna-

tional perspective. We use opensource for our intranet, the re-spondent said. We work togetherwith two other agencies, on the

software of www.pleio.nl. Theywork for the total of the Dutchgovernment and connect them

through a social media 2.0 solu-

tion.

The software, Pleio, offers the

ability to conduct online meet-ings with citizens or business in anopen-source environment.

OBSTACLES TO

ADOPTION

Although these use cases show thepower of open source, the road toadoption is not always clear. Agen-

cy officials must navigate difficultprocurement cycles, define mis-sion value and navigate securitychallenges. To better understandthe roadblocks, our survey asked

respondents to identify the barri-ers to adoption. We found that theleading obstacle is security chal-

lenges (73 percent). Other chal-lenges respondents named:

60 percent cited lack of edu-cation and knowledgeon opensource.

58 percent cited fear of in-teroperability with existingsystems.

50 percent cited licensing andlegal concerns.

In particular, respondents com-

mented on the difficulty of bud-get and resource requirements,change management, culture, and

staffing concerns. One challengeis the lack of knowledge withingovernment workforce, as someof the stated concerns, while held,

are largely invalid or easily miti-gated, a respondent said.

Another touched on the percep-tions of open source, stating thatopen source gets passed over be-

cause of irrational assumptions

that closed/proprietary softwaredoes much more to address theissues above than simply pass the

buck.

Respondents also highlighted the

need to receive managers sup-port. Without executive buy-in,wheels will spin and nothing willhappen, one said.

Another said, A lot of the push-

back will be from people whodepend on and only know propri-

etary software. Offer trainings andlearning opportunities to thosepeople so they dont feel threat-

ened. Having the IT grunts sup-port will go far when it comes togetting approval from higher up.

Like any kind of IT investment,open source will have its challeng-

es. The rest of our guide exploresa government case study, pro-

vides insights from open-sourceexperts and concludes with anopen-source cheat sheet to help

you fully understand open-sourcetechnology.

< />/>

GURE 3:

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO ADOPTION?

73% 60% 58% 50%secur ity cha llenges lack of education and knowledge

on open sourcefear of interoperabilitywith existing systems

licensing and legalconcerns



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O P E N S O U R C E I N

O P E N S P A C E

Expert insights from Chris Mattmann, senior computer

scientist at JPL

GovLoop recently spoke with Chris Mattmann, se-

nior computer scientist at NASAs Jet PropulsionLaboratory, to learn how JPL has become a leader

in open source, serving as a model agency of thefuture. Mattmann explained why government shoulduse open-source software, dispelled open-sourcemyths and discussed best practices for open-sourceadoption.

Understanding open sources role and the licensesthat meet agency standards are crucial because opensource is not simply a technological trend; it forms

the backbone of the technological innovations our

agencies depend on to gain an edge. These techno-logical innovations will shape the agency of the fu-ture. Mattmann explains how.

OPEN SOURCES ROLE AT

NASA

Any technology, regardless of whether its opensource, should fit the bill on the cost-saving side andin the context of reducing risk, Mattmann said. Inhis area of expertise earth science open-source

software has grown to be the preferred technology.

We deal with a lot of files, including scientific ob-

servations, Mattmann said. We need efficient ways

L E S S O N S F R O M N A S A S

J E T P R O P U L S I O N

L A B O R A T O R Y



of organization and ways to auto-

matically extract important infor-mation from these large amountsof files.

Understanding how people willuse open-source technology is

just as important as understand-ing how its produced. Consumers

of open source use the technol-ogy to fulfill goals, while producerscreate open-source frameworks

tailored to their organizationsneeds. Mattmann said that agen-cies where a team has technicalexpertise should take on both

production and consumer roleswith open source. Producingopen source allows employees toshape and drive the requirements

and directions of these products,

he said.

One way Mattmann and NASAhave used open source can be

seen in the Apache Tika project,which Mattmann is vice presidentof. Apache Tika identifies, retrievesand sorts text and metadata from

more than 1,200 file formats acrosslanguages and cultures. Mattmannand a team of volunteers have re-

ceived several accolades for theirwork on this content analysistoolkit, including receiving fundingfrom the National Science Founda-

tion to further develop the open-source framework for metadataexploration, automatic text miningand information retrieval.

Agencies that choose to use open

source must start small, Mattmannsaid. One of the mistakes he oftensees is that agency officials inter-ested in producing open source

want to start big and create thegeneral frameworks they haveused in the past.

Start by building something realand by building successful softwaresystems even if theyre not reus-

able , Mattmann said. You need tohave built something before in or-der to find out what worked andwhat didnt. From there you can

generalize. The more successfulframeworks we are seeing in opensource have followed that path.
http://tika.apache.org/http://tika.apache.org/


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DISPELL ING 2

MYTHS OF OPEN-

SOURCE SOFTWARE

Whether your agency wants to

be a producer or consumer, em-

ployees must be prepared to maketheir case for open source. Oftenthis means open-source advocates

must start by directly addressingthe myths that have prevented theuse of open source. Mattmann cit-

ed the two major myths that hehas seen become roadblocks toadoption.

Myth 1: Open-source

software is lower-qualitysoftware than proprietary.

Peer and human-oriented re-views have consistently demon-strated that open source can cre-

ate better-quality software withfewer bugs. Mattmann also saidthat NASA subjected open-sourcesoftware to multiple Test Matu-

rity Model Integration apprais-als. These assessments showed

how open source can actuallyyield better-quality code, how it is

more continuously integrated andtested, and how it is more free ofbugs, he said. Specifically, devel-

opment testing firm Coverity pub-lished a 2011 report stating thatopen-source code has fewer de-fects per 1,000 lines of code than

proprietary software.

Myth 2: Open source al-lows outsiders to modifycode.

Another common concern, Matt-

mann said, is that someone willhack code with malicious intent,but many steps can be taken toprevent that. We can dispel this

myth through educating people on

the techniques for insulation, asyou would any technology, Matt-mann said.

Some examples of technologyused to deploy and insulate soft-ware from upstream changes in

the repository include:

Branching: duplicating sourcecode so that modifications can

happen in parallel along bothpaths, or branches.

Forking: transferring code notto a separate branch but to aseparate developer communityto make changes.

Header:maintaining a copy ofthe project and selectively up-grading as needed.

In order for agencies to continueto take advantage of open source,leaders must look at new ways to

adopt software and work to dispelmyths.

OPEN SOURCE IN

GOVERNMENT

Aside from widely propagatedmyths, there are concerns thatare specific to government agen-

cies, which must meet federallymandated requirements not im-posed on private organizations.Among them is obtaining the cor-rect licensure. In fact, according

to GovLoops survey, 50 percentof respondents cited licensing andlegal concerns as a leading barrier

to adoption.

In government, open source mustbe used with a permissive license,

Mattmann said. A permissive li-cense guarantees the freedoms touse, modify and redistribute code,but it also permits proprietary de-

rivative works. Many of the popu-lar open-source plat forms, such asApache 2, BST and MIT, are avail-

able with these licenses. To makesure your agency is getting theright license and platforms Matt-mann recommends working with a

vendor to help make sense of theprocurement process.



How GitHub has Transformed Open-Source Coding for

Government

Ben Balter, government evangelist at GitHub, recent-ly spoke with Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSID-ER blog, identifying the value of GitHub for govern-

ment, which has become the default for sharing codein open source. (Listen to the full interview here.)During the interview, Balter described GitHub as aFacebook for coders, but instead of sharing pictures

and status updates, you share your software code.He said GitHub is:

A version control platform and a social network.

Focused on growing communities around a sharedchallenge.

GitHub is also a coding wiki, he added. GitHub isbuilt under the same philosophy as a wiki: Anyonecan propose a change, Balter said. In GitHub, we

have a pool request model. That means we have astructured comment section. Instead of a member ofthe public having direct access to edit the underly-ing source code , the proposed change is moderated.

The original creator can either reject or approve of

the edit. In the meantime, the entire community canhave a discussion in the comment section about the

proposed change.

GitHub has more than 4 million users and hostsmore than 6 million repositories of code. There

are dozens of examples of how coders have usedGitHub to share, modify and improve coding prac-tices. Organizations such as Code for America, the

White House, FEMA and dozens of state, local andfederal agencies host their code on GitHub. Projectsthat have used it include:

Project Open Data: This White House-developedproject is a collection of code, tools and case stud-ies designed to help agencies adopt the Open Data

Policy and fully make use of their data.

New York State Senate:According to its website,the New York State Senate uses open-source soft-

ware whenever possible in order to avoid paying ex-pensive software license fees, and we release newsoftware that we develop under open-source soft-

ware licenses whenever possible, so that others ingovernment or the private sector can leverage ourwork, thus maximizing the return on the investmentof the tax dollars invested in its creation. The code

is shared on GitHub and at www.nysenate.gov/de-velopers.

Code for America:The goal of Code for America is

to improve relationships between citizens and gov-

ernment. It helps local governments build and deploytechnology that makes it easy to connect and engage

with government. The code used to develop thesetechnologies is then shared on GitHub for other cit-ies to model and build on.

IS GOVERNMENT THE ULTIMATE EXPERIMENT

IN OPEN SOURCE?
http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/government-the-ultimate-experiment-in-open-sourcehttp://project-open-data.github.io/http://www.nysenate.gov/openhttp://www.nysenate.gov/developershttp://www.nysenate.gov/developershttp://www.nysenate.gov/developershttp://www.codeforamerica.org/http://www.codeforamerica.org/http://www.nysenate.gov/developershttp://www.nysenate.gov/developershttp://www.nysenate.gov/openhttp://project-open-data.github.io/http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/government-the-ultimate-experiment-in-open-source


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O P E N S O U R C E P R O D U C T S , I N M Y M I N D , W I L L B E C O M E A T O O L

T O C R E A T E A N O P E N A N D T R A N S P A R E N T G O V E R N M E N T . Most

of us have information we want to share with each other for efficiency reasons, but also to the public for

accountability reasons,

- GovLoop survey respondent.



Open source is playing an essential role in shaping the agency of the future. Across government, agencies are

leveraging open source to help fulf ill mission needs at lower costs and increased productivity.

The role of open source is largely to commoditize and standardize technology, making it cheap and easily

available to as many people as possible, said Gunnar Hellekson, chief technology strategist at Red Hats U.S.public-sector business.

Weve seen the myriad ways agencies use open source. Hellekson provides another example: government-

funded research. Researchers are not only using open-source technology, but at places such as NSF, it is re-quired to aid in collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Its been interesting to see open source evolve from something that agencies are afraid of or something that

has to be dealt with to something that many organizations now see as an opportunity, he said.

When clients start to think about open source, Hellekson added, they are driven by a desire for reduced costs,

but that shouldnt be their only consideration he said. Open source also:

Facilitates the ability to innovate faster.

Provides more interoperability than proprietary software.

Helps embrace and define open standards.

Lets users work directly with developers of the software.

In addition, open source is changing the way government engages with the private sector. We are seeing more

agencies and programs using open source as a meaningful way to do collaboration with their colleagues in theprivate sector, which is really exciting to see , Hellekson said.

The biggest lesson learned is to not treat open source as something special, he added. When agencies start

working with open source, they see licenses and acronyms they do not understand, and tend to put out guid-ance that is restrictive and actually hurts their adoption of open source.

If you want to put special rules in place on how you can use open-source software, then chances are reallygood that you can put those rules in place for proprietary software as well, so dont use open source as aspecial case, Hellekson said.

Red Hat helps make open source practical to use and assures that an agencys software is stable, interoperablewith other software and hardware, and certified to meet government criteria and provide support for specificgovernment requirements. For advanced open-source users, Red Hat works with the open-source communityto develop the right code, build security protections and lead an agency through open-source adoption.

EXPERT INSIGHTS:

L E V E R A G I N G T H E V A L U E O F O P E N

S O U R C E I N G O V E R N M E N T


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O P E N S O U R C E

A PLATFORM

WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

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built their technology foundations to be open, not closed. Because they know

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O P E N S O U R C E

Many technology services are shaping the agencyof the future, and open source is a major one. As

the survey data show, there is great opportunity fororganizations to adopt open-source technology to

meet their missions.

In the next three to five years, open source will bethe standardized architecture at NASA, said JPLsMattmann.

Here are five additional ways we see open sourceaffecting the agency of the future:

1. EASING BUDGET

CONSTRAINTS

Diminishing budgets continue to plague the publicsector. With open source, there is the opportunity

to create and develop innovative technology solu-tions while still lowering costs.

Open source leads to cost savings in an age of bud-

get reductions, one survey respondent said. Ad-ditionally, open-source solutions can improve gov-ernment by reducing duplication and creating moreefficiency, another respondent said.

5 W A Y S O P E N

S O U R C E W I L L

I M P A C T T H E

A G E N C Y O F

T H E F U T U R E



Open source works despite thebleak budgetary outlook. Prop-erly implemented open source

could allow government agenciesto have better control of their ITinfrastructure at a lower cost thanproprietary solutions, a survey

respondent said.

2. ASSISTING IN

THE DEVELOPMENT

AND CREAT ION OF

OPEN STANDARDS

Open source can help create in-novative solutions for governmentagencies. As government services

become more complex and sec-tors become increasingly inter-connected, agencies must focuson inventive solutions that meet

complex citizen demands. Opensource can help create this kind ofenvironment, allowing agencies to

develop tailored solutions.

Although creating open-source so-lutions can prove advantageous tousers, their full potential cant be

realized without open standards.Open sources biggest advantageis open standards, a survey takersaid. If you and I use the same

common language, there is muchless likelihood of miscommunica-tion. When a government agency

relies on a proprietary productwhose manufacturer is taken over,costs usually go up or the agencyis stuck using the same software

years past its useful working life.

Open source gives the agency a

way out, the respondent added.

They can develop new featuresin house, hire someone to main-tain their applications or find an-

other branch of the source. Opensource may require more resourc-es to maintain, but it certainly hasbenefits in the long term.

3. ATTRACTING

THE FUTURE

WORKFORCE:

OPEN SOURCE AS

A RECRUITMENT

TOOLIn government, we dont have bigbags of money to put in front of

people like in the private sector,JPLs Mattmann said. But opensource can attract top-tier talentand show how working for the

public sector presents an unrivaledopportunity to help our nation.Mattmann believes that once pro-spective employees see the chance

to code for government missions,it may very well be more excitingthan work in the private sector.

He sees this firsthand. In additionto his role at NASA, Mattmannteaches computer science at the

University of Southern California,where his graduate students arealso being trained in open-source

technology. Experts in other fields

are being trained in coding in or-der to produce tailored softwareon the job, he added.

4. SETT ING A

FOUNDATION FOR

GOVERNMENT

TRANSPARENCY

With open-source technology,

government has an opportunity

to advance transparency effortsand create a more direct, effectiveand responsive government. The

agency of the future will be guidedby openness and transparency, ascitizens will continue to leverage

government data and informationto create apps, start businesses orengage with government in yet un-known ways.

I N G O V E R N M E N T , W E D O N T H AV E B I G

B A G S O F M O N E Y T O P U T I N F R O N T O F

P E O P L E L I K E I N T H E P R I V AT E S E C T O R ,

J P L S M AT T M A N N S A I D . B U T O P E N

S O U R C E C A N A T T R A C T T O P - T I E R T A L E N T

A N D S H O W H O W W O R K I N G F O R T H E

P U B L I C S E C T O R P R E S E N T S A N U N R I V A L E D

O P P O R T U N I T Y T O H E L P O U R N A T I O N .

M A T T M A N N B E L I E V E S T H A T O N C E

P R O S P E C T I V E E M P L O Y E E S S E E T H E C H A N C E

T O C O D E F O R G O V E R N M E N T M I S S I O N S ,

I T M A Y V E R Y W E L L B E M O R E E X C I T I N G

T H A N W O R K I N T H E P R I V AT E S E C T O R .


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O P E N S O U R C E

Open-source products, in mymind, will become a tool to create

an open and transparent govern-ment, a respondent said. Mostof us have information we want toshare with each other for efficien-

cy reasons but also to the publicfor accountability reasons.

Public distrust of government is

due to a lack of clarity as to howtax dollars are spent, and opensource changes that, the respon-

dent said. It lets citizens track re-sources agencies more effectivelycommunicate value. Open sourcecan help cut waste, fraud and

abuse.

Sharing tools and resourceswould facilitate sharing of informa-

tion, and would require employeesto better communicate, anotherrespondent said. This can only

enhance our processes and ser-vices in the public sector.

5. SUPPORTING

EMERGING

TECHNOLOGY

SUCH AS CLOUD

AND BIG DATAThe final way that open source will

shape the agency of the future isby facilitating related technologytrends such as big data, cloud andmobile programs. Ninety percent

of cloud vendors are based on anopen-source stack, Mattmannsaid. In addition, commercial ven-

dors are packaging open source toallow agencies to make the most

out of big data. Its becoming thedefault way to process commod-

itized and valued data. Simply put,open source will be mission-crit-ical, Mattmann said.

Our report should be just the startof your path to leveraging opensource and becoming an agency of

the future. To solve the large-scaleissues facing government, agency

leaders need to think of new andinnovative solutions to cut costs,increase efficiencies and improveservices. Open source can certain-

ly help. Our report concludes withan Open-Source Cheat Sheet,which will give you need-to-knowinformation and propel you on

your journey into adopting opensource.



Open source has various licenses, each with specific requirements and limitations. The rules and regulations are complex; working w

an open-source expert or vendor can help you understand which license you need. Check out these common open-source licenses

Y O U R O P E N S O U R C E

C H E A T S H E E T

To understand open sourcemost basic level, well star

how the Open Source Indefines it. (The full defini

available online at The Source Definition.).

The introduction states, Open source doesnt jus

access to the source code. The distribution terms osource software must comply with the following cr

Heres an overview of the 10 sections of the defin

FREE REDISTRIBUTION: Licenses exist but do not require royalties or fees.

SOURCE CODE:Source code must exist for distribution and cannot be deliberately hidden and

programmers must have quick access to the source code.

DERIVED WORKS:The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allowthem to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

INTEGRITY OF THE AUTHORS SOURCE CODE: Different licenses will have different rulesabout distribution to protect the original source code; this can be confusing, so your best bet i s towork with your vendor or an open-source expert.

NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS OR GROUPS:The license must notdiscriminate against any person or group of persons.

NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FIELDS OF ENDEAVOR: The code can be used in any

sector or business and for research purposes.

DISTRIBUTION OF LICENSE: If someone uses the code within a program, an additional licenseis not needed for additional users.

LICENSE MUST NOT BE SPECIFIC TO A PRODUCT: If code is redistributed, then newusers have the same rights as the original user.

LICENSE MUST NOT RESTRICT OTHER SOFTWARE:Open-source licenses should not

restrict the use of proprietary software.

LICENSE MUST BE TECHNOLOGY-NEUTRAL:The kind of technology and interface usedshould not prohibit the use of open-source technology.

0

OPEN-SOURCE LICENSES

OPEN

SO

URCE

LICENS

ES

O

PEN

S

Apache License 2.0

BSD 3-Clause New or Revised license

BSD 2-Clause Simplified or FreeBSD license

GNU General Public License

GNU Library or Lesser General Public License

MIT License

Mozilla Public License 2.0

Common Development and Distribution License

Eclipse Public License
http://opensource.org/licenses/EPL-1.0http://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clausehttp://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clausehttp://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-licensehttp://opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-licensehttp://opensource.org/licenses/MIThttp://opensource.org/licenses/MPL-2.0http://opensource.org/licenses/CDDL-1.0http://opensource.org/licenses/EPL-1.0http://opensource.org/licenses/EPL-1.0http://opensource.org/licenses/CDDL-1.0http://opensource.org/licenses/MPL-2.0http://opensource.org/licenses/MIThttp://opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-licensehttp://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-licensehttp://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clausehttp://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clausehttp://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0


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O P E N S O U R C E

Here are guides from Open Source for America, anorganization working toward raising awareness inthe federal government about the benefits of open-source software:

1. How to Evaluate Open Source Software / FreeSoftware (OSS/FS) Programs

2. Total cost of ownership of open source software:a report for the UK Cabinet Office supported byOpenForum Europe

3. Government Computer Software Acquisition andthe GNU General Public License

4. Publicly Releasing Open Source Software Devel-oped for the U.S. Government

Resources from Military Open-Source Software, grass-roots organization that connects civilian andmilitary developers using open-source software andhardware at the Department of Defense:

1. Policy memo from John Stenbit, DODs chief information officer Open Source Software in the De

partment of Defense

2. Acquiring and Enforcing the Governments Rightin Technical Data and Computer Software Under De

partment of Defense Contracts: A Practical Handbook for Acquisition Professionals

3. Open Technology Development: Lessons Learned

& Best Practices for Military Software

4. DOD policy memo Better Buying Power: Man

date for Restoring Affordability and Productivity iDefense Spending

5. DOD policy memo Clarifying Guidance Regard

ing Open Source Software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

7 BEST PRACTICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE ADOPTION

1. Know the different open-source licenses and their limita-tions.

2. Conduct small pilot programs to help with evaluationand adoption.

3. Create and leverage a GitHub account so that you canparticipate in a learning community.

4. Maintain executive-level and organizational support.

5. Communicate the benefits of open source across your

agency.

6. Beware of the hidden costs.

7. Change how you think about purchasing software.

1. Open source is less secure than pretary software.

2. Open source cannot be implement

agencywide.

3. Open source is hard to support.

4. Open-source software doesnt existhe application needed.

5. Open source only benefits program

5 OPEN-SOURCE MYT

Need a quick refresh from some of the findings in this report? Here are the best practices we collected. Theseinsights will help agencies consider open source as a tool to deliver mission value or begin on the path to

adoption.
http://opensourceforamerica.org/http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_eval.htmlhttp://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_eval.htmlhttp://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/https://acc.dau.mil/adl/en-US/475584/file/60698/OSS%20White%20Paper%2010-11.pdfhttps://acc.dau.mil/adl/en-US/475584/file/60698/OSS%20White%20Paper%2010-11.pdfhttp://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110906101834630http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110906101834630http://mil-oss.org/resources/articles-papers-presentationshttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/otdhttp://mil-oss.org/otdhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_clarifying-guidance-regarding-oss_16oct2009.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_clarifying-guidance-regarding-oss_16oct2009.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_clarifying-guidance-regarding-oss_16oct2009.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_clarifying-guidance-regarding-oss_16oct2009.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_carter-memo-on-defense-spending-28-jun-2010.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/otdhttp://mil-oss.org/otdhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-airforce_acquiring-enforcing-governments-software-rights-under-dod-contracts.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/us-dod_policy-memo_oss-in-the-dod_stenbit-memo.pdfhttp://mil-oss.org/resources/articles-papers-presentationshttp://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110906101834630http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110906101834630https://acc.dau.mil/adl/en-US/475584/file/60698/OSS%20White%20Paper%2010-11.pdfhttps://acc.dau.mil/adl/en-US/475584/file/60698/OSS%20White%20Paper%2010-11.pdfhttp://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/39826/http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_eval.htmlhttp://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_eval.htmlhttp://opensourceforamerica.org/



A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T SThe GovLoop team is thankful to everyone who contributed to this report. We thank them for their active

community engagement, input and knowledge. This guide would not have been possible without your assis-tance and from the support of our sponsor, Red Hat.

LEAD AUTHOR:Patrick Fiorenza, senior research analyst

CO-AUTHOR:Kathryn David, GovLoop research fellow

EDITORS:Steve Ressler, GovLoop founder and president, and Andrew Krzmarzick, director of communityengagement

LEAD DESIGNER:Jeff Ribeira, GovLoop Senior Interactive Designer

DESIGNER:Russell Yerkes, GovLoop Design Fellow

IMAGE CREDITS: NASA HubbleSite, Code for America Flickr

For more information about this report, please contact Patrick Fiorenza, senior research analyst, at

[email protected] @pjfiorenza.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/codeforamericamailto:[email protected]://www.twitter.com/pjfiorenzahttp://www.twitter.com/pjfiorenzahttp://www.twitter.com/pjfiorenzamailto:[email protected]://www.flickr.com/photos/codeforamerica


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O P E N S O U R C E

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sionals by acting as the knowledge network for government. The GovLoop community has over 65,000 mem-bers working to foster collaboration, solve problems and share resources across government.

The GovLoop community has been widely recognized across multiple sectors. GovLoop members come fromacross the public sector. Our membership includes federal, state, and local public servants, industry expertsand professionals grounded in academic research. Today, GovLoop is the leading site for addressing public sec-

tor issues.

GovLoop works with top industry partners to provide resources and tools to the government community.

GovLoop has developed a variety of guides, infographics, online training and educational events, all to helppublic sector professionals become more efficient Civil Servants.

LOCATION

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Fax: (202) 407-7501


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