Constitutional affairs legal affairs

Workshop: Legal aspects of free and open source software 
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2. METHODOLOGY 
This paper reports on a selection, analysis and comparison of different national and local 
initiatives that have been implemented in order to improve procurement practices and to 
invite administrations to better consider FOSS in software procurements.  
This paper is far from being exhaustive and aims exclusively at illustrating some of the 
many approaches adopted at different administrative levels in order to give a first insight 
into the problems confronted and/or the results achieved. The selection has also been 
made considering the direct accessibility of information and the purposes and limits of this 
briefing paper. 
In order to facilitate the observation of the different initiatives, some comparison points 
have been identified.  
The administrative level (national, regional or local) where the decision has been taken and 
implemented is the first element of comparison. 
The initiatives are classified into two categories, depending on their nature: legislation (law 
or decree) or policy (programme, action or any other initiative from an executive body). 
For each case, the relevant legal background has been globally analysed. The paper 
describes the fixed objectives and how FOSS is being dealt with in such a legal framework 
to reach these objectives.  
Three types (or levels) of objectives are identified and serve also as a general comparison 
point: raising awareness on FOSS, ensuring non-discriminatory treatment, and actively 
encouraging or preferring FOSS procurement. If this third objective is upheld, and where 
possible, the question whether or not the initiative addresses the issue of the selection and 
assessment of awarding criteria is briefly tackled. 
Where possible, information on the reception and effectiveness of the analysed solutions 
has also been gathered and assessed with regard to the following questions, where 
relevant: how effective different solutions have proven to be in practice in enabling FOSS 
procurement, how they have been applied by administrations and/or the courts (some of 
these initiatives have been challenged before court), and what types of licences are 
involved.   
One must finally note that, although open standards and FOSS are close concepts that are 
usually addressed jointly to elaborate effective procurement strategies, this briefing paper 
only focuses on the procurement of FOSS. 
 
3. EXPERIENCES 
3.1 Netherlands: 
NOIV 
action plan (2007-2011) 
3.1.1 General 
presentation 
The NOIV programme was an action plan
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 that aimed at accelerating the use of open 
standards and open source software
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 within the national government, subsidiary 
government bodies and the public and semi-public sector.  
It had been adopted by the Dutch Government and had been implemented during the 
governmental session (from 2007 to 2011) by a subdivision of ICTU (ICT-
Uitvoeringsorganisatie), an organisation established by the Ministry of the Interior and 
Kingdom Relations, and the Association of Municipalities. 
The main objectives of this action plan were: 
                                                 
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 Available in English at 
https://www.ictu.nl/archief/noiv.nl/files/2009/12/Action_plan_english.pdf
. 
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 “Open source software” is defined by reference to the OSI definition. See “De stand van zaken van het open 
source software beleid van de Rijksoverheid”, available at 
http://www.ictu.nl/archief/noiv.nl/documenten-en-
publicaties/doc/het-open-source-beleid-van-de-rijksoverheid/index.html#more-7119
. 
 

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Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs 
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
 
to increase interoperability by accelerating the use of open standards, 

 
to reduce supplier-dependence through a faster introduction of open source software 
and open standards, and 

 
to promote a level playing field in the software market, by promoting innovation and 
the economy by forceful stimulation of the use of open source software, and by 
giving preference to open source software during the process of IT acquisition. 
Accordingly, three procurement principles were upheld by NOIV: 

 
Open source is not mandatory, but its use should be strongly encouraged, 

 
Open source software should be preferred if it is equally suitable, and 

 
Providers of open source software should have the same opportunities as providers 
of closed source software. 
In order to foster the use of FOSS by administrations at any level, some action lines had to 
be followed. Some of them can be summarised as follows: 

 
A programme office within ICTU had been set up to support actively the action lines. 
The office provided guidance, result-oriented advices and customised practical 
support to the administrations. It also conducted measurements to monitor the 
progress of the actions. A ranking has been maintained and prizes were offered 
annually for the Most Open Public Organisation. 

 
At national level, meetings with businesses, suppliers and various government 
target groups were organised to explain the plans and to reach practical agreements 
for their implementation. 

 
Any administration had to develop an implementation strategy for tendering, 
purchasing and using open source software. A fixed deadline (January 2009) was 
adopted for the ministries. 

 
The Government was also to encourage the use of open source software in a 
European context. 

 
The Government also intended to investigate to what extent all software under its 
control or developed on its order could in principle be released under an open source 
software licence. To that end, it showed specific marks of interest towards the 
European Union Public Licence (EUPL). The Government realised that such objective 
could mean that it would have to make tenders for development of software 
conditional on its obtaining of the intellectual property for the software developed. 
NOIV was therefore a general framework set up at national level to foster the development 
and adoption of pro-FOSS procurement strategies in any Dutch administration. 
NOIV clearly stated that the procurement rules are not applicable when freely downloading 
FOSS. It noted, however, that administrations should select downloadable FOSS with care 
and according to strict procedures. Notwithstanding this, the procurement of services 
around such selected software (such as deployment, maintenance, customisation or 
support services) must be done conforming to the classical rules, bearing in mind that 
“open source software is provider-independent”
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. 
Amongst the documents issued by the NOIV, a guideline has been published that provides 
examples of award criteria to be added in the calls for tender
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 and which can be 
summarised as follows: 
                                                 
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 « Download open source software », available at 
https://www.ictu.nl/archief/wiki.noiv.nl/xwiki/bin/view/NOiV/Downloaden%2Bvan%2BOpen%2BSource%2Bsoftwa
re.html
. 
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 “Modelteksten voor open voorkeur in een (Europese) aanbesteding”, NOIV – November 2010, available at 
http://www.ictu.nl/archief/noiv.nl/files/2010/11/NOiV_Modelteksten_voor_open_voorkeur_in_een_aanbesteding.p
df
. 

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