Open Forum Europe (OFE)

See the following -

Advocacy Groups Support EC Guide Against IT Vendor Lock-In

Gijs Hillenius | European Commission (EC) | June 26, 2013

European groups advocating public administration's use of free and open source software and open standards are welcoming the 'Guide for the procurement of standards-based ICT', published by the European Commission this week Tuesday. Read More »

Biased Buyers Blocking Open Source

Simon Phipps | Computerworld | August 6, 2012

A recent report shows that 17% of ICT procurement across Europe is biased, with the UK the 4th most common offender. Read More »

Europe Pledges Support for Open Source Government Solutions

Estonia has long been the digital envy of many European Union member states. An effective and open policy approach to digital government has yielded extraordinary results—from 90%+ uptake of electronic identification (E-ID) solutions to an open source e-government platform (X-Road) to meet the ever-growing expectations of IT-savvy citizens as well as other countries wanting to pool IT across borders. Perhaps the most significant development for open source supporters is the explicit recognition of open source software (OSS) as a key driver towards achieving ambitious governmental digitisation goals by 2020. Under the declaration, European goverments will...

OpenForum Europe Finds Trademark References in IT Procurements Widespread Break Rules

Gijs Hillenius | OpenSource.com | February 16, 2012

Public administrations that are procuring IT services and software must add to the budget plan the exit costs needed to move to alternative IT solutions after the end of the contract period. That is one of the recommendations by Open Forum Europe, an organisation advocating the use of open standards in ICT, in a report on procurement published this Monday. Read More »

UK Government Finalizes Open Standards Principles: The Bigger Picture

Mark Bohannon | opensource.com | November 6, 2012

Last week, the UK Cabinet Office released its Open Standards Principles: For software interoperability, data and document formats in government IT specifications. Read More »