You know that something is big news when your mother informs you about it because she heard it in the news. Once a year the German Bundesfinanzhof submits its financial audit report on federal spending. Quoted as roughly translated by me.
This year it complained:
The Federal administration has more than 300 000 work places equipped with information technology. In the past year it regularly migrated its operation system and office communication software to newer versions of the established vendor with a market coverage of 90% - without checking alternatives.
It also wants a better migration guide from the KBSt
The KBSt published a „migration guide“, which should help the Federal administration in the evaluation of different migration scenarios. It was partially not up-to-date and to complicated for practical usage. The federal offices asks regretted, that new experiences fronm open source pilots in industry and public administrations are not or only partially communicated in the federal administration. About alternatives to the standard operating system and office communication software used in the workplace and their advantages or disadvantages insufficient information was provided.
these are the demands:
The German Bundesrechnungshof urges the KBSt to update the present material as soon as possible and outline it more practically according to the desires of the Federal administration.
Esp. the migration guide and the guidelines for the application of economic … and evalutation of alternatives need to be simplified and be adapted to the state of the art on a regular base.
The Bundesrechnungshof additionally recommended the KBSt, e.g. to
- increase their efforts for open standard which lift the dependency from a software publisher,
- expand the consultancy and support capacity and compatence on a massive scale
- improve the information exchange, in particular about open source software and
- disseminate results of the pilot projects on this matter.
Bundesrechnungshof 2007 Bemerkungen (pdf)
It seems to me that some KBSt public officers now open their champagner bottles: Hurray, we are "urged" to do more. In fact the migration guide of the KBSt is propably the best you get in Europe but it was countered by lobbying on other levels.
- KBSt Migration guideline or
- latest English version 2.0.
I am also aware that KBSt put great emphasis on open document standards during the German presidency. In the summer German Bundestag invited the government to do more on document standards.
What I find very strange is a KBSt/BMI legal study from the law firm White & Case which also lobbied for Microsoft.
- Case & White study: Rechtsgutachten zu Geschäftsmodellen Deutschland-Online - legal analysis for the German government by White & Case which puts forward the argument that competition law prohibits more competition and limits the contracting freedom in procurement policies when it comes to open source requirements.
- Toplegal.eu
- White and Case event
- The European Union Antitrust Case Against Microsoft and What it Means for Silicon Valley Companies
- Rohnke (Case & White): Whose trade mark rights? What the Microsoft case means for trade mark owners1
The article considers the influence of the commission ruling in the Microsoft case, forcing Microsoft to use its WINDOWS-trade mark for an "unbundled" version of the program in the light of the trade mark owner's properties rights.
It seems the Bundesfinanzhof still has a lot of work to do if lawfirms from oversees get contracted by our federal administration. Microsoft lobbyists should not draft German procurement policies or interpret them legally.