[Gllug] Open Source lobbying meeting - UKUUG London Thurs 19th

[Chris Bell]

On Fri 13 Oct, Aaron Trevena wrote:
> 

> 
> The big issue that needs looking at is why aren't using open source for shoe-ins like
> infrastructure, integration, etc and why it insists on throwing tons
> of money at hugely expensive projects with the big 5 like accenture,
> rather than smaller scale projects using open source technology,
> smaller companys (open source oriented or not) and leveraging inhouse
> skills to share open source software between themselves.
> 
> When you think how much the NHS and other national infrastructure
> spend on IT and then compare it to internal IT knowledge, skills and
> development you can see why there is a big problem. using open source
> to build and share what is needed would save a lot of money, make the
> organisations more self-sufficient and less reliant on big
> consultancies and allow smaller organisations to get involved.
> 

   Government and public funded organisations are required to put all
contracts over a fairly small value out to tender, and you will see them at
the Official Contracts website,

http://www.ogc.gov.uk

   It is up to the Open Source community to read the list, decide if and how
a job could be done, and submit tenders before the deadline, but this can be
an onerous, time-consuming, and thankless task unless there is a reasonable
chance of success, and the right rate for a job which requires both ability
and experience.

   There may be a political bias against in-house solutions because of a
percieved cost penalty, but in my experience the result is a huge increase
in administration staff required to write the specifications, second-guess
costings, and oversee the project, and this often requires more staff than
required to do all the work in-house.

-- 
Chris Bell

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