[Klug-general] How does Kent County Council select software?

[Chris Roberts]

OS wars aside, the "how do they pick software" question will be down to a
(probably) long chain of tenders, framework agreements and other such
contractual gumph*

Public authorities are obliged to put any large expenditure (like IT) out
to tender, to give private sector a "fair" chance at the business.
 Normally the decision isn't up to any one person, and all sorts of
guidelines might be applied to the decision making process (like
accessibility, for example).  A lot of it might be box ticking - but the
idea is to remove any personal preference (or at least prejudiced personal
preference) during the decision making process.  The quality of the product
may not even come into it, as long as the contract is there stating it will
meet whatever spec has been provided.

The tenders are usually only be applied for by well established and/or big
companies that can foot the (sometimes extortionate) fees involved in
applying for it (the likes of Atos, Pheonix IT, ADA Networks) - and I don't
know of many that offer Linux on the desktop as part of an IT solution (at
least, not at the moment).  I imagine if a company existed that provided a
Linux desktop solution, that filled all of the requirements of the tender,
at a cost that was competitive - that you would see more of it.  In fact,
since you cannot mention trademarked names (e.g. Windows(tm)) in a tender,
it would have to be considered equally!


* WARNING: Procurement is very boring.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/public-tenders/rules-procedures/index_en.htm


On 19 September 2014 13:36, Laurence Southon <laurence at southon.uk.net>
wrote:

> On 19/09/14 09:56, Paul Littlefield wrote:
> > Patience is the key and solid proof that stuff works AND saves people
> > money. I only recommend what I have used and thoroughly tested myself.
> >
> > It's taken a LONG time for me to work on customers and it goes on EVERY
> > day.
>
> Yes, though I think it's important to emphasise that it's not an
> either/or choice. Mixed environments of Windows, Linux, and Macs seem to
> be the norm now. The canny people are getting the best from all three.
>
> As regards software choice in the public sector, again it doesn't need
> to be an either/or choice. The key thing is the adoption of open
> standards, and having done that everything will fall into place. To that
> end the recent Cabinet Office announcement of ODF as the Govt document
> standard is an important breakthrough as taxpayers at last have a
> choice. Windows, Mac, or Linux you can choose, you are not forced into
> anything.
>
>
> LS
> --
> Laurence Southon
> Tiger Computing, Bexley
> www.tiger-computing.co.uk
>
> _______________________________________________
> Kent mailing list
> Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
>



-- 
Chris Roberts
~
http://naxxfish.eu/
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