US Government Procurement

• OMB asked to use procurement to address competition and security issues.
  • June 4, 2002. Letter from Ralph Nader and James Love to Mitchell E. Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and Budget concerning government procurement policy, competition, and security in software markets.
  • June 4, 2002. Slashdot comments on the Nader/CPTech letter.
  • News Stories
    • June 4, 2002. Andy Sullivan for Reuters. U.S. govt buying could help crimp Microsoft - Nader. Here is the spanish version on CNN.com
    • June 4, 2002. D. Ian Hopper's story for the Associated Press. Government tech officials look to confront Microsoft on security.
    • June 4, 2002. Margaret Kane for CNET News. Hitting Microsoft Where It Hurts.
    • June 4, 2002. Grant Gross for NewsForge. Nader and Love: U.S. government could end Microsoft monopoly by changing purchasing policy.
    • June 4, 2002. The National Taxpayers Union, a group that actively campaigns against the Microsoft antitrust case, issued this press release, Nation’s Largest Taxpayer Group Criticizes Nader “Strategic Purchasing” Scheme for Government
    • June 5, 2002. Lisa Gill for the Ecommerce Times. Nader to U.S.: Don't Buy Microsoft.
    • June 5, 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald. Nader's solution to Microsoft monopoly
    • June 5, 2002, John Lettice in the Register, Nader urges Feds to get into productivity software publishing.
    • June 5, 2002. Dan Farber in ZDNet. What's wrong with Nader's Microsoft plan.
    • June 6, 2002. Joab Jackson, in Washington Post web page, Nader Needles OMB over Widespread Microsoft Use
    • June 6, 2002. Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that opposes the antitrust case agains Microsoft, issued this press release: Nader's 'Waste Reduction' Costly to Taxpayers, Says CAGW; 'Consumer Advocate' Calls for Regulation Through Government Purchasing
    • June 7, 2002. James Love reply to Dan Farber commentary, published on ZDNet, Why Nader's plan for Microsoft is on target
    • June 10, 2002. Bob Evan, in Informationweek.com, Business Technology: Truth, Justice, And...Ralph?. Bob Evan definately doesn't like Ralph Nader. Here was James Love's June 11, 2002 response, a letter to the editor of InformationWeek.com.
• Misc US government procurement stories
  • July 24, 2000. Dan Verton for Federal Computer Week. DoD Reigning in Software Buys.
  • February 9, 2002. Mikael Pawlo for Newsforge. Open code in public procurement.
  • May 23, 2002, Jonathan Krim, Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon: Microsoft Lobbies Hard Against Free Software
  • May 30, 2002, Associated Press, in USA Today, Linux getting widespread support from government.
  • June 12, 2002, Declan McCullagh and Robert Zarate, U.S. Gov't Still Penguin Shy.
• US FAR regulations
  • General Structure and Subparts from acqnet.gov.
  • Subpart 6.2- Full and Open Competition After Exclusion of Sources.

    6.202 Establishing or maintaining alternative sources.
    (a) Agencies may exclude a particular source from a contract action in order to establish or maintain an alternative source or sources for the supplies or services being acquired if the agency head determines that to do so would-
    (1) Increase or maintain competition and likely result in reduced overall costs for the acquisition, or for any anticipated acquisition;

Misc procurement stories

• November 1997, in Le Monde Diplomatique, Ralph Nader and James Love suggested "government procurement authorities should allocate part of computer budgets for systems which use non-Microsoft software, to enhance competition."
• June 10, 2002, Matt Berger, IDG News Service, Microsoft Corp. is facing a growing battle against open-source software that is edging into politics on a global scale.
• Misc Slashdot stories on procurement
  • April 21, 2002, Public Procurement and Open Source.
• Country procurement stories
  • Canada
    June 17, 1999, the Financial Post, Canada, Business Group Makes Push for Software Competition,

    The Canada Europe Round Table, launched yesterday, wants governments to take the lead in using operating systems such as Linux instead of Microsoft's proprietary Windows. The group of 28 companies -- which includes Bombardier Inc., Nortel Networks Corp., Corel Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG and Ericsson AG of Sweden -- suggests "competitive systems" such as Linux should be endorsed at the next round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

  • May 23, 2002, Maggie Williams, Latin America in love with Linux.
  • France
    December 9, 1999, John Oates, Silicon.com French schools go open source.
    • April 24, 2000, Michelle Finely, in Wired, French Pols Say, 'Open It Up'
    • July 2000, Benoit Faucon, in RedHerring, Liberté, Égalité, Linux: Microsoft's OS is under attack from foreign governments.
    • November 29, 2001, France Towards Open e-Government -- Government Agency to Enforce Open Standards and Promote Open Source / Free software
  • Germany
    • March 24, 2000, Slashdot, Germany Withdraws Open Source Article.
    • June 3, 2002, David McHugh for the AP, German government signs deal with IBM for more computers running open-source Linux software
    • June 3, 2002, Slashdot, Germany, IBM Sign Major Linux Deal
  • Mexico
    • March 16, 2001. Julia Scheeres, in Wired, Mexico City Says Hola to Linux
    • August 2, 2001, Angel Gonzales, in Wired, Mexican Schools Embrace Windows.
  • Peru
    • April 8, 2002. DR. EDGAR DAVID VILLANUEVA NUÑEZ, Congressman of the Republica of Perú letter to Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ, General Manager of Microsoft, Perú
    • April 22, 2002, Julia Scheeres, Peru Discovers Machu Penguin
    • May 5, 2002, Kuro5hin, Peru vs. Microsoft (MLP)
    • May 5, 2002, Thomas C. Greene, MS in Peruvian open-source nightmare
    • June 3, 2002, Russell Pavlicek, in InfoWorld, From Peru, with love
  • Korea
    • January 12, 2002, Korea Replacing 120,000 Windows with Linux.
  • Taiwan
    • June 4, 2002, Taiwan to Start National Push For Free Software.
  • UK
    • April 26, 2002, Robin Bloor, VNUNET, Government must back open source, "Robin Bloor, leading light at Bloor Research, argues that potential savings of £1bn can no longer be ignored."
    • June 5, 2002, Laura Rohde, U.K. government renegotiates Microsoft fees , considers alternatives.