Press Release
Mayor Newsom Announces First-In-Nation Open Source Software Policy for City Government
Chief Technology Officer for State of California Applauds City Efforts
01/22/10 – Today, Mayor Newsom and Supervisor David Chiu announced the nation’s first open source software policy for city government, building on President Obama’s call for more open and transparent government. The new policy requires city departments to consider open source software equally with commercial products when purchasing new software over $100,000.
“Open source software is created by the people for the people and as such is ideal for government,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Our new Open Source policy has the potential to save the City millions in software costs while fundamentally changing the way government operates.”
Open source software has delivered shorter implementation times and lower costs for the City, as seen with DataSF.org, RecoverySF.org and the City’s 311 integration with Twitter.
“Across the state, leaders are implementing solutions that leverage technology to improve government,” said Teri Takai, CIO for the State of California. “We applaud San Francisco’s aggressive approach to Open Source software and its continued innovation.”
The Open Source policy is part of a larger Open Gov Initiative for the City and County of San Francisco to engage constituents, focused on open data, open participation and open source.
“This new policy will help the City find efficient and effective ways to provide more services using new and creative technology solutions,” said Chris Vein, CIO for the City and County of San Francisco.
Earlier this fall, Mayor Newsom issued an Open Data Executive Directive requiring City departments to make all non confidential datasets under their authority available on DataSF.org, the city’s one stop web site for government data.
“I’m excited to see the City & County of San Francisco adopting a strong policy on open source software,” said Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media. “I hope that other governments recognize the value of open source as Mayor Newsom has.”
The Committee on Information Technology (COIT) unanimously approved the City’s new Software Evaluation Policy. To read the policy, click here: http://www.sfgov.org/site/coit_page.asp?id=115978.