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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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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
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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
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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/)8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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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
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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.
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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.
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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-source8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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O P E N S O U R C E
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.
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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
Agencies that depend on innovation have one thing in common: They have
built their technology foundations to be open, not closed. Because they know
the best ideas are built by many, not few. These agencies run on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux. Its time to experience what IT can do with no proprietary
limits, vendor-imposed constraints, or boundaries to innovation. Its time for
IT to create the future instead of waiting for it.
Visitrhel.redhat.comto create the future of your enterprise, and download a
free whitepaper to learn how Red Hat delivers a secure enterprise platform
for next-generation datacenters.
Copyright 2013 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, and JBoss are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other coun
Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
http://rhel.redhat.com/http://rhel.redhat.com/http://rhel.redhat.com/http://rhel.redhat.com/http://rhel.redhat.com/8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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> fromGovLoop_Guide importSection_3
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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
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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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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.
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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-2.08/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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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/8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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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/codeforamerica8/12/2019 GovLoop Agency of the Future OpenSource Nov2013
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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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