Le 14 février 2012, l'April a répondu à une consultation publique[6] lancée pour la Commission européenne sur les marchés publics TIC. Cette consultation a été l'occasion de présenter l'importance de l'usage de standards ouverts dans la commande publique, de rappeler les problèmes liés au Référentiel général d’interopérabilité (RGI) en France, et de souligner l'importance de marchés publics ouverts.
Helping public authorities procure ICT based on Standards
Part 1 – About you and your Organisation
Name of Your Organisation
April
Type of organisation
Policy group
Member State in which your Organisation is located
FR
Your name
Jeanne Tadeusz
Size of organisation (number of employees)
Annual turnover or budget for the last set of audited accounts (expressed in euro)
Part 2 – Comments on Guidelines
Are all problems in ICT public procurement addressed in the guidelines?
No
If not, what would you like to add?
We would like to see a clearer focus and more specific information on how to avoid the use of brand name of technical specification on tenders, and guidelines on how to avoid them.
We would like to see a precise definition of open standards and an explaination regarding their importance for avoiding lock-in and data durability.
We would like to see clearer details regarding software licensing condition and their impact on public bodies, and on the licensing condition public bodies should favor when procuring
software.
If you are a public authorities chief information architect or public procurer, is this guidance useful to procurers?
What could be added to make it more useful?
Could any additional best practice be included?
Yes
Please elaborate
A more comprehensive approach to sharing of best practices between public bodies (and especially local authorities) could be included, especially regarding software developed within a
local bodies. For instance, Free Software which is developed or modified to suit best a local authorities' needs might well be the best opportunity for another public administration, but the
local businesses working with that software might lack the ressources to answer tenders; public bodies should also take pro active measures to learn about such local initiatives.
Public authorities should also ensure that replying to public tenders is not hindered by interoperability issues, like for instance restricting the submission process to those using a specific kind
of software (eg demanding a specific operating system to answer to an electronic tenders, for instance, goes against competition, especially when the public authority is procuring software or
operating system).
Part 3 – Improving the Procurement Process
ICT Procurement strategy
Are you aware of any such ICT strategy at an organisational level (e.g. individual public bodies)
Are you aware of any such ICT strategy at a sectoral level (e.g. strategies applicable to certain areas such as transport or health)
Are you aware of any such ICT strategy at a regional level (e.g. across regions or groups of municipalities)
Are you aware of any such ICT strategy at a national level
Yes
If yes, please describe
The RGI (Référentiel Général d'Interopérabilité, General Interoperability Framework) in France was supposed to achieved such a role of unifying the use of standards to ensure interoperability among administrations. It specifies the rules that public bodies should follow in order to facilitate information exchange and improve interoperability among public service systems. It aims to ensure a better integration of new system within the existing framework and to facilitate the evolution of the global system, as well as its use by all actors. Published in 2006, the first version of the RGI was based on the normalised ODF format for the office documents. This huge improvement ensured nondiscrimination between citizens and data durability. After months waiting for the RGI Committee, however, followed by a hot debate on Microsoft's OOXML format, the French government ended up decided that both ODF and OOXML were acceptable, even though the latter was not available in any application. Regarding office suites, the RGI is hence a clear example of attentism and undecision. It amounts to encouraging the dominant position of Microsoft's office suite in public procurement. The RGI is actually counterproductive, as it actually emphasizes the confusion about office documents standards. It gives way to an already unbalanced situation, and adds to the confusion without actually helping public bodies to make an informed choice regarding document formats. Lobbying and pressures by private actors have prevented the RGI to be of any use for public authorities, emphasizing confusion instead.
If yes, how helpful are they?
Not helpful
Provision of procurement advice
Advice on following procurement law Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
General principles of procurement best practice Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
Yes
If so, how helpful is it?
Not helpful
Ready text or templates for inclusion within tenders Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
Advice on analysing purchasing needs Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
No
If no, how useful would such advice be to procurers?
Helpful
Training on good procurement practice for ICT Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
No
If no, how useful would such advice be to procurers?
Very helpful
Sharing of best practices Are you aware of any such sources within your Member State?
Provision of help with ICT Standards
Undertake assessments of existing ICT standards
Is there access to such a source of information in your Member State
Publish catalogues of appropriate ICT Standards according to the ICT domain, product or service
Is there access to such a source of information in your Member State
Yes
If yes, how helpful is it?
Not helpful
Provide advice on which ICT Standards to use for particular needs
Is there access to such a source of information in your Member State
Yes
If yes, how helpful is it?
Not helpful
Provide ready text or templates to be included in tenders referencing standards
Is there access to such a source of information in your Member State
Provide ready text or templates on how to avoid the inappropriate use of brand names in tenders
Is there access to such a source of information in your Member State
No
How helpful would such a resource be to procurers?
Very helpful
Additional comments
Any additional comments on the improvement of procurement through the better use of Standards?
A clear definition of what standards are, and more precisely of the importance of open standards, would be most needed to help public bodies ensure they can benefit the most from their
IT choices.
A good definition might be the one found in the first version of the European Interoperability Framework :
* "The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit organization, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to
all interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.).
* The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it
for no fee or at a nominal fee.
* The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.
* There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard".
Part 4 – Wider Impacts
In your opinion, would an increased focus on ICT Standards in the procurement of ICT goods and services have an effect on:
The use of brand names or proprietary technical specifications in tenders
Decrease
Number of suppliers responding to public ICT procurement tenders
Increase
Quality of the solutions proposed by suppliers
Increase
The costs suppliers need to bear in order to respond to public tenders
Decrease
Competition in the ICT market
Levels of innovation in the ICT market
Increase
Would public authorities requesting standards-based ICT systems have an effect on
Short-term costs of solutions proposed by suppliers
Long-term costs of solutions proposed by suppliers
