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HTML
226 lines
9.3 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>Public Procurement - Overview - FSFE</title>
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</head>
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<body class="article" microformats="h-entry">
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<p id="category" class="p-category"><a href="/work.html">Our Work</a></p>
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<h1 class="p-name">Public procurement</h1>
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<div class="e-content">
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<div class="p-summary">
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<!--What's this class background? Where does it come from? Please don't put random classes-->
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<p>
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<a href="/freesoftware/basics/4freedoms.en.html">Free Software</a>
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is a perfect fit for the public sector. It is a public resource that
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government organisations can use, study, improve, and share with
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each other. For citizens, this means transparency, cost efficiency,
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and the freedom to interact with their government in the way that
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suits them best.
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</p>
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<p>
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But not all government institutions are taking advantage of Free
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Software. In consequence, public funds are being wasted, and
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that programs that should be free are being locked away. This
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also makes life hard for the Free Software-based companies who
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employ people in Europe, and pay their taxes here.
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</p>
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</div>
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<h2>FSFE explains the problem</h2>
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<p>
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Procurement is a field for specialists. Many procurement officials are
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still not fully aware of Free Software. Combined with intertia in
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public sector IT departments, this means that too many public bodies
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never look beyond their long-standing relations with suppliers of
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non-free software.
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</p>
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<p>
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At FSFE, we work with journalists and researchers to highlight the
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work of public sector organisations that are doing it right. When a
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public body makes mistakes, we help them to correct them. And when
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necessary, we put pressure on organisations that insist on harmful
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ways of buying software.
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</p>
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<h2>Why procurement matters </h2>
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<p>
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Public procurement spending equals nearly 20% of the EU's GDP <a class="fn" id="ref-ofe-procurement" href="#fn-ofe-procurement">1</a>. The
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public sector's procurement choices have very real effects on the
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economy, and play a significant role in determining the sort of firms
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that thrive in the market.
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Even with current procurement practices, Free Software already
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delivers very significant benefits for the European economy. Daffara
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(2012) estimates that Europeans enjoy 114 billion EUR per year in
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direct cost savings thanks to Free Software<a class="fn" id="ref-daffara-estimate" href="#fn-daffara-estimate">2</a>.Anecdotal evidence points in the same direction. Many public adminstrations that begin using Free Software see their IT costs drop by 50-90%.
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</p>
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<p>
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The public sector's buying decisions also has a significant influence
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on the development of a healthy supplier ecosystem for Free Software
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products and services. With more government institutions as their
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customers, many such companies could thrive more quickly, and there
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would be more and better Free Software programs available to the
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public.
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</p>
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<h2>FSFE speaks up when things go wrong...</h2>
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<p>
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In 2010, the European Commission made <a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.en.html">a glaring mistake</a>. The
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Commission had issued numerous policy statements in favour of Free
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Software and Open Standards. But when it came to buying software and
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services for itself, it went straight to Microsoft and its
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resellers. Companies offering Free Software never had a chance, even
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though their products offered the same functionality.
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</p>
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<p>
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We saw that the Commission had certainly breached the spirit, if not
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the letter, of the law. So we took them to task, generating lots of
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press coverage - right up to the New York Times.
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</p>
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<p>
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We want the European Commission to procure
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the software products it needs in an open, competitive fashion,
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giving Free Software suppliers the same opportunities as it gives
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to proprietary vendors and their resellers.
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</p>
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<p>
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We want the EC to take a long-term view of its IT strategy,
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realise the dangers of lock-in, and figure future exit costs into
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the price of any solution it acquires.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is what the Commission owes to Europe's citizens. Sticking to
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the letter and spirit of European procurement law would be an
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excellent start.
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</p>
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<h2>…and offers independent solutions</h2>
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<p>
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Fortunately, most people are more open to progress than that.
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We help procurement officials understand the full impact of
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their actions, and we help them to do better -- not only for
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their organisations, but also for the citizens whom they serve.
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</p>
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<p>
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At FSFE, we are in constant dialogues with procurement
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specialists across Europe. We observe new approaches, identify
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what works, and <a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110418-01.en.html">provide analysis</a> to decision makers. We help
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specialists in different countries learn from each other.
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</p>
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<p>
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To speed up change at the ground level, we also work with
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national governments to help them draft policies that promote
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Free Software adoption. In January 2014, Italy introduced <a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140116-01.en.html">a rule
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requiring public bodies to first evaluate Free Software before
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buying non-free solutions</a>. FSFE's General Counsel Carlo Piana
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was part of the expert committee installed by the government to
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design this rule, alongside participants from all sectors of the
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software market.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is the sort of change that FSFE helps to create. Please
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<a href="https://fsfe.org/support/index.en.html">support us</a> in this effort.
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</p>
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<h2 id="fn">Footnotes</h2>
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<ol>
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<li id="fn-ofe-procurement">Open Forum Europe (2013): <a href="http://openforumeurope.org/openprocurement/open-procurement-library/Report_2012_2ndSnapshot%20final.pdf/at_download/file">OFE Procurement Monitoring Report 2012 </a>, 2nd Snapshot, p. 2
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<a href="#ref-ofe-procurement" class="ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn-daffara-estimate">Carlo Dafarra (2012): Estimating the Economic Contribution of Open Source Software to the European Economy. In: Shane Coughlan (ed.)(2012): <em>The First OpenForum Academy Conference Proceedings</em>, pp. 11-14
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<a href="#ref-daffara-estimate" class="ref">↩</a></li>
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</ol>
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</div><!--/e-content-->
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<h2>Related News</h2>
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<fetch-news />
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</body>
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<sidebar promo="our-work">
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<!-- FIXME: add related links to FSFE work & publications here -->
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<h2>Publications</h2>
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<dynamic-content />
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.openforumacademy.org/research/library/ofa-research/Thoughts_on_Open_Innovation%20-%20Chapter%207.pdf">Public Procurement: Free Software's wild
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frontier</a> [pdf] (Karsten Gerloff, 2013) is a detailed discussion of procurement practices and policies. </li>
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<li><a href="http://fsfe.org/activities/os/2012-06-uk-consultation-os.en.html">Submission to UK Open Standards Consultation 2012</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.en.html">Executive summary and analysis of the Helsinki City and OpenOffice case in 2010-2011</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/20110418.ProcurementConsultation.FSFEresponse.en.html">Contribution to the EC public consultation on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy</a></li>
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<!-- FIXME: add more links to FSFE work & publications here -->
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</ul>
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<h2>Ongoing Campaigns</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://fsfe.org/campaigns/nledu/nledu.en.html">Campaign, Unlocking the Dutch educational system </a></li>
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<li><a href="http://documentfreedom.org">Document Freedom Day</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.pdfreaders.org">PDFreaders.org</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Blog entries</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2013/04/17/european-parliament-to-report-on-own-use-of-free-software/">European Parliament to report on own use of Free Software</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/07/18/helping-the-european-parliament-to-release-its-own-free-software/">Helping the European Parliament to release its own Free Software</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/06/06/the-european-commissions-locked-in-syndrome/">
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The European Commission’s locked-in syndrome</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2014/01/15/european-commission-still-in-denial-on-vendor-lock-in/"> European Commission still in denial on vendor lock-in</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=160">"An emerging understanding of Open Standards"</a> by Georg Greve</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>External links of interest</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.odfalliance.org">ODF Alliance</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.fsf.org/resources/formats/playogg">Play Ogg!</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://isp.law.yale.edu/static/papers/Open_Documents_and_Democracy.pdf">"Open
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Documents and Democracy"</a> by Laura de Nardis and Eric Tam, Yale Information Society Project</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/Substantive_1st_IGF/openstandards-IGF.pdf">"An Economic Basis for Open Standards"</a> by Rishab A. Ghosh</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.openforumeurope.org/openprocurement">Open Forum Europe, procurement work</a></li>
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</ul>
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</sidebar>
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<timestamp>$Date: 2013-11-26 14:38:52 +0100 (Tue, 26 Nov 2013) $ $Author: max.mehl $</timestamp>
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</html>
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