Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

Open Software: revolutionising government software purchasing
Open Software in government
There are many huge, costly IT projects inside government, and these often go badly and
lead to vast sums of money going offshore. Departments are secretive about their
technology projects, and don't share them, even with other departments.
Labour believes that smarter government means departments sharing their technology. This
will save money inside government, and provide a competitive advantage for New Zealand
businesses.
Labour will issue a binding instruction to government agencies to implement a whole
of government approach to open software.
The instruction will be made under the Public Finance Act 1989, and will include the
following components:
Prevent vendors double-dipping. Require that when the government pays for
software to be created, it will be owned by the government, and will be shared
within government and with the public using an open source license.
Stop the secrecy. Investigate obliging agencies to disclose on their websites the
cost and usage of each software product used (where doing so does not increase
costs).
Stop silo thinking. Require that agencies evaluate the costs at a whole-ofgovernment
level when deciding whether to develop and freely share software or
instead to license it.
Free the code. Require all software developed under Crown Copyright to be
made available to the public on an open source license.
Allow systems to join up. Require that new agencies only purchase new
computer applications that inter-operate using published, open standards.
Encourage smarter decisions. Require agencies considering new technology
purchases over $2 million to first evaluate whether existing publicly available
technology substantially meets their business requirements, and the cost of
changing their processes to adapt to the existing technology.
Other Open software initiatives
Labour will create a government „App store‟
A government-run „app store‟ could provide a short circuit for fledgling NZ software
developers to get to market. The „app store‟ would be open for any local developers to
submit their software where it could be purchased and used by government agencies. .
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