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activities/policy/eu/freedomtocompete.en.xhtml
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@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
GNU/Linux or BSD systems.</p>
</div>
<div>
<div class="clear">
<p class="grid-40 left">
(b) DIGIT'S Data Centre manages more than 800 OSS web servers.</p>
@ -257,7 +257,8 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
Govemment, e-Inclusion and e-Health)
</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<div class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
We are fully aware of these websites, and appreciate their
usefulness to many European public bodies. However, we regret that
the Commission is not making greater efforts towards availing
@ -270,17 +271,15 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
direction, the Commission's own guidelines and recommendations would
ultimately be futile.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
The SACHA II call for tender was designed in a way that made it
very hard, if not impossible, for Free Software companies
to offer their products and services:</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
The call for tender includes a long list of specific products, rather
than a set of functional specifications. While formulations such as</p>
<div class="grid-60 right even">
<blockquote>
<p>Product names and trademarks: Whenever the tendering
specifications mention a specific product name or trademark
@ -289,9 +288,8 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
referring to that product or its equivalent. (SACHA II <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/informatics/procurement/calls_docs/2009029/2009029_annex6.pdf]">Annex
6</a> : 5.1.4.)</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
may or may not satisfy the letter of the law, they are certainly not
conducive to competitive bidding by a large number of providers of
different programs. This issue was at the heart of the European
@ -300,7 +298,7 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
specifying "Intel or equivalent" processors (see <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1210&amp;format=HTML&amp;aged=0&amp;language=EN&amp;guiLanguage=en">Press release
IP/04/1210</a>, October 13, 2004)</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/informatics/procurement/calls_docs/2009029/2009029_annex4.pdf">Annex 4</a> of the tendering specifications
lists 251 named software products (not counting different varieties of
those products). We are surprised that DIGIT found itself unable to
@ -308,25 +306,26 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
for any of these products without resorting to product names and
trademarks.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
DIGIT issued a comprehensive call for tender for a very large and
diverse set of programs. If the Commission had truly wanted to acquire
Free Software and related services, an appropriate approach would have
been to tender a number of smaller, more specific contracts. European
SMEs would have found it much easier to bid for such contracts.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
We would appreciate if the European Commission could inform us
how spending under the SACHA II contract will be allotted among the
different software products and services listed in the the call for
tender. Which percentage of spending under this contract will go
towards the purchase of Free Software and related services?</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
Would the Commission also be able to inform us how many bids were
received in total? This would be an interesting indication of the
number of companies who felt that they were in a position to
successfully bid for this contract.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear">
@ -340,7 +339,8 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
measures.
</p>
<p class="grid-60 right">
<div class="grid-60 right">
<p>
Our press release assumes no such thing. FSFE maintains that <a href="/activities/os/def.en.html">Open
Standards</a> can be implemented
in both Free and proprietary software. Open Standards, which do not
@ -348,11 +348,11 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
software model, offer freedom from vendor lock-in and open up the
software market to innovation and competition.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right">
<p>
We very much appreciate your request for input, and will avail
ourselves of this opportunity whenever necessary.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right">
<p>
The important question is rather whether European institutions are
accessible to citizens regardless of the type of software they
choose to use. A notable failing, for example, is the fact that
@ -362,12 +362,12 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
in the EU's decision making process. We would welcome DIGIT's help
in removing this obstacle to democratic participation.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right">
<p>
We would also note that the Commission maintains a preference for
proprietary document formats, and staff are still unable to receive
documents in .odf formats without going through central translation,
despite this having been established as a formal ISO standard.
</p>
</p></div>
</div>
<div class="clear even">
@ -381,19 +381,20 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
comments about the process.
</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<div class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
Our press release merely states that both this procurement and the
revision of the European Interoperability Framework are
coordinated by DIGIT.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
We are looking forward to the impending publication of the European
Interoperability Framework, and, <a href="http://fsfe.org/activities/os/eifv2.en.html">despite indications to the contrary</a>
, remain hopeful that it
will provide at least the same level of leadership for the European
public sector as the original version where Open Standards are
concerned.
</p>
</p></div>
</div>
<div class="clear">
@ -404,35 +405,35 @@ EC letter from Dec 10th, 2010 </h3>
would have been more balanced.
</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<div class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
I am pleased to inform you that rather than basing our public
intervention merely on articles in the press, we followed FSFE's
customary best practice of going to the source and, in this case,
investing considerable amounts of time into studying the publicly
available documents related to this procurement.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
We regret that the SACHA II contract itself has not been published. If
the contract were to be made publicly available, FSFE and other
European citizens who care about the way in which their taxes are
invested and their institutions conduct their business would be able
to verify that this agreement is truly in their best interest.</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
The same applies for other contracts concluded by the Commission
<p>The same applies for other contracts concluded by the Commission
regarding the acquisition of software, such as the <a href="http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:71324-2008:TEXT:EN:HTML&amp;tabId=1">EUR 49 million
framework contract for Microsoft software and services</a> awarded to
Fujitsu Siemens on January 10, 2008.
</p>
<p class="grid-60 right even">
<p>
Our goal is to increase the use of Free Software and Open Standards in
all parts of the European public sector. This includes opening up
public procurement to participation by Free Software companies. FSFE
will be happy to work with DIGIT and other parts of the European
Commission in order to support competition, choice and freedom in the
European software market.
</p>
</p></div>
</div>
</div>