Exclusive Interview: Jeff Kaplan

Executive Director at Open ePolicy Solutions, EE.UU.

By Jose Luis Tesoro

1. Can you describe us your general vision about the topics of free software, open source software and open standards in the public sector?

My vision for open technologies—including open-source software and open standards—focuses on helping people realize that open technologies are vital to driving innovation that improves our daily lives, from healthcare records to public services and economic opportunities for small businesses. 

When it comes to citizens and the agencies that serve them, public services and information exchange should not be locked into technologies whose closed (and often proprietary) nature creates an almost permanent dependency on one IT supplier. 

Over the long term, that only inhibits the creation of new services and elevates costs.  In the short term, this may lead to real disasters. Here in the US, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, storm victims trying to sign up online for relief services could only apply using one Internet browser.  The federal disaster management agency was locked into one technology owned by one vendor.

Fast-forward four years and much has changed. The accelerating trend toward open standards is one positive step to “democratizing” data and access public services.

2. Which is your opinion about the viability of open standards, free software, and open source software in the design and implementation of affordable, scalable, secure Government and e-Government services?

The viability of open standards and open-source software is no longer an open question. Government agencies worldwide deploy open technologies to power mission-critical functions in many areas from defense to education, national archives and healthcare.  There are plenty of open standards and free/open source software that are mature and enterprise-ready.  But in many places, the rules are rigged against them.

Changing attitudes is key to changing rules.  In the US, for example, intelligence agencies—which usually have the strictest requirements for security—have been leaders in use of open technologies.  If the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency can scale open technologies to support a new, collaborative, data-sharing platform, other agencies can do it for their core businesses. 

Indeed, all agencies should see themselves as technology investors, and not merely consumers.  The CIA takes that idea literally, investing for example in open source search technologies through In-Q-Tel, its venture capital entity.

It is not a matter of choosing all open, all the time, especially in terms of code and licenses.  Rather, the goal should be to “openize” your ICT ecosystem.  Make it more flexible, more adaptable.  In technology terms, open ICT ecosystems are agile and heterogeneous – able to incorporate and combine open and closed, proprietary and non-proprietary technologies.

3. Can you give us a vision about specific regulation, legislation and policies in USA Federal Government?

First off, it is important to recognize that the uptake of open standards and open-source software in the federal government has been rising for years.  Federal agencies started using Linux in the 1990s.

If we consider the US federal government, I want to see increased efforts—in terms of policy, legislation and solutions—in two areas:  (1) making public data more accessible and usable; and (2) enabling agencies to reuse and share IT solutions.  Each will have huge impacts on both how citizens interact with government and how efficiently government operates.

I’ll give two current examples to illustrate the point.

The federal government, in its “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” is spending billions of taxpayer dollars to stimulate a US economy in recession.  Enabling regulators, citizens and investors to track the disbursement and use of those dollars is vital for promoting public accountability and preventing waste.  Open standards can help here, but not without action by Congress and the Executive Branch.

The Office of Management and Budget now requires all agencies to use open, standardized formats for financial reporting on all transactions conducted in connection with the Recovery Act.  This will ensure more accurate reporting and effective oversight.  Congress and the Treasury Department could apply the same approach to track the billions used to bailout the US banking sector through the TARP program.

Enabling agencies to reuse and share IT solutions will also positively impact the performance and cost of government.  Certain agencies have taken a lead in this.

DoD launched Forge.mil, a website that serves as a repository for open-source software projects used by the military.  The US space agency, NASA, created a similar “forge” for sharing internally developed open-source software.

Internal reuse is good; G2G sharing is even better. The Defense Information Systems Agency intends to open source dozens of applications for handling administrative tasks for use by other federal agencies.

These examples of solution sharing need to be replicated and expanded so a wider community of agencies, developers and contractors can benefit, and contribute.

4. Which are the main actual implementations in USA Federal Government and in States? Which is the balance between failure and success stories implementations from public administrations?

Major deployments of open technologies are happening at all levels of government across the US.  Given the size of government in the US—encompassing federal, state and local—it is difficult to generalize about the success and failure of IT implementations.

There are widely used, open-source tools like Snort for network security and new major deployments such as the Nationwide Health Information Network being built by the Department of Health and Human Services with open standards and an open-source platform.

Instead of focusing on specific implementations, however, it might be better to concentrate on leveling the procurement playing field across government.

The US Department of Defense officially approved the use of open source software in 2003.  DoD expects to issue new open-source guidelines this year.  More broadly and boldly, the British government recently announced that open-source software will be considered on an equal footing with proprietary commercial software in all major public sector procurements.   The US federal government and states should consider following in their footsteps with an across-the-board policy.

5. Which are the main challenges and priorities for furthering the use of open standards, free software and open source software in public administrations?

Agencies need choices and the flexibility to create new combinations of technologies to reduce costs while improving services.  Going forward, I see two major issues—or impediments—to government’s ability to design and deploy scalable, affordable, secure e-services:  interoperability and corporate culture.

In terms of technology, systems and applications that cannot (or only with costly re-engineering) interoperate with newer solutions represent a huge barrier.   To a certain extent, an agency may be stuck until a legacy system is replaced entirely.  However, there is no need to make the same mistake twice.  Agencies need to escape the proprietary trap where the next IT purchase is dictated by the last purchase.

And yet, the biggest challenges to increased adoption of open technologies are cultural and organizational, rather than technological.  It is vital to eliminate old organizational rules and habits that still prevent agencies from considering open source and proprietary solutions on a truly competitive basis.  Even if interoperable, open technologies exist, people—and their habits and resistance to change—are baked into an organization’s rules on acquisitions, licensing, IT reuse, and data sharing.

Two places for governments to start: (1) treat open standards as the norm, and make them policy priorities; and (2) do a full review of procurement rules.