[Discussioni] FSFE: European Commission's software contract is a rough deal for Europe

[Giacomo Poderi]

Per chi fosse interessato/a al follow-up del comunicato stampa.

La EC (DIGIT) ha inviato una lettera con richiesta di 'diritto di replica' al
comunicato.

La lettera, con commento a fianco di FSFE, è pubblicata qui:
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/eu/freedomtocompete.en.html


Saluti,
gp


Comunicato originale: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.html


On 07/12/10 16:02, Francesco Potortì wrote:
> ------- Start of forwarded message -------
> Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:25:00 +0100
> From: "press a fsfeurope.org" <press a fsfeurope.org>
> Subject: [FSFE PR][EN] FSFE: European Commission's software contract is a rough
>  deal for Europe
> To: press-release a fsfeurope.org
> 
> = European Commission's software contract is a rough deal for Europe =
> 
> [permanent URL : http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.en.html]
> 
> The European Commission will spend EUR 189 million on proprietary
> software over the next six years, in direct contradiction to its own
> decisions and guidelines. The Commission last week announced a
> six-year framework contract to acquire a wide range of mostly
> proprietary software and related services [1].
> 
> "This is a rough deal for Europe", says Karsten Gerloff, President of
> Free Software Foundation Europe. "Instead of coming up with a strategy
> to take advantage of Free Software and become independent from
> vendors, the Commission is digging itself deeper into the vendor
> lock-in hole."
> 
> Last week's contract goes against the stated intentions of several
> Commission documents. European procurement rules say that public
> sector buying practices should "avoid discrimination and open up
> public procurement to competition."
> 
> The Digital Agenda, published in May 2010, calls for "ICT products and
> services" to be "open and interoperable" [2]. A guideline issued by the
> EC's OSOR project cites European procurement rules to say that "calls
> for tender [...] should be based on functional requirements, not on
> specific products or vendors" [3], while last week's contract comes with
> a long list of specific products which the Commission wants to buy.
> 
> In the Malmö and Granada declarations of 2009 and 2010, the European
> Union's member states called on the EC to "pay particular attention to
> the benefits resulting from the use of open specifications in order to
> deliver services in the most cost-effective manner", and to "[e]mbed
> innovation and cost effectiveness into eGovernment through the
> systematic promotion of open standards and interoperable systems" [4].
> 
> The procurement process was conducted by the Directorate General for
> Informatics (DIGIT). This department is also leading the process to
> revise the European Interoperability Framework. FSFE has strongly
> criticised [5] previous drafts [6] for falling behind the original
> version in their support of Open Standards [7] and Free Software [8].
> 
> "European citizens expect the Commission to keep its costs low, to
> spend their tax money in ways that promote Europe's development, and
> to stick to its own policies," comments Gerloff. "This behaviour by
> DIGIT fails Europeans on all three counts. It damages the Commission's
> credibility."
> 
> 
> == Links ==
> 
>   [1]
> http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/03/244307/European-Commission-signs-largest-ever-software-deal.htm
>   [2] Digital Agenda for Europe:
> http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245%2801%29:EN:NOT
>   [3] OSOR Procurement Guideline:
> http://www.osor.eu/idabc-studies/OSS-procurement-guideline%20-final.pdf
>   [4] Malmö declaration : http://www.epractice.eu/en/library/299149 and
> Granada declaration http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/316468
>   [5] http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100330-01.en.html
>   [6] Comparison of different EIF versions:
> http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
>   [7] Definition of Open Standards: http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html
>   [8] What is Free Software?
> http://www.fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html
> 
> 
> == About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
> 
>   The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
>   non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
>   involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
>   participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation
>   in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
>   Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
>   furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
>   modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these
>   issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving
>   people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
>   central issues of the FSFE.
> 
>   http://fsfe.org/
> 
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