Government agencies recognize the value of Open Source Software (OSS). Many IT departments at the federal, state, and local levels are implementing some type of OSS. To date, these acquisitions have lacked a cohesive plan and were outside of an overall strategy. As more OSS moves into the enterprise space, Info-Tech expects to see a greater uptake of these solutions from government agencies. When implementing an OSS strategy, government agencies must be aware of potential issue that may arise and implement policy first.

The Government OSS Strategy Controversy

OSS solutions are making significant headway in the government sector. Agency CIOs that have OSS as part of their software acquisition strategy should develop and implement an OSS acquisition policy to avoid the following potential issues unique to Government entities: