Above: Saranjit Arora.

BitDepth#1338 for January 24, 2022

A declared pillar of the Digital Transformation Ministry a year after its formation is a commitment to working with local developers and using Open Source software (OSS) to develop solutions for TT”s digitalisation effort.

Saranjit Arora, on a December visit to Trinidad, agreed to answer some questions about how Trinidad and Tobago’s national effort might be managed.

Arora is the founder of milandigital.eu and for the last four years has served as an external consultant to the European Commission.

In agreeing to answer my questions, he was at pains to ensure that I understood that he was speaking in his capacity as an open source developer and advocate and not a representative of the EU.

Arora explained that open source software is to be found everywhere, including in the most popular devices from washing machines to smartphones.

“It is impossible to have any digital solution without open source,” Arora said.

“I do not know the precise balance between proprietary and open source, but it would not surprise me if many countries are already in the ‘more than 50 per cent open source’ camp.”

What exactly is OSS? It’s software that is released under a license that grants users the right to use, alter and distribute the code collaboratively.

Altered open source code is described as forked and is added to the distribution database for further investigation and adjustment.

Because anyone can use the code or inspect it, OSS enjoys a high level of trust in developer communities. Free software created using open source is referred to as FOSS.

While lower cost is sometimes cited as a reason to consider open source solutions, Arora notes that there are other value propositions including, “The avoidance of vendor lock-in, access to the underlying code to fix or enhance functionality, and most of all, the ability to distribute and deploy wherever one wants to.”

While agreeing that issues of data technical sovereignty might encourage governments to prefer local data centres, Arora notes that there isn’t any need to build software solutions from the ground up.

“Large home-build programs suffer from the typical large project failures,” Arora said.

“It is eminently sensible to use and modify (mostly localising) existing open source applications.”

“I am also sure that public administrations in Europe at least, would be very helpful in this regards towards T&T.”

The EU’s Open Source Observatory gathers news about projects and software for governance that are under development. The European Public Services has created a catalogue of free and open source software resources for governance here.

There might be some need to retrain developers in open source skills, but local resources and local talent would, he believes, deliver jobs as well as an improved human resource.

When it comes to deployment, Arora believes that five years is a minimum commitment for real change to become apparent, but for low-hanging fruit, it’s possible to see improvements in as little as one to two years with political support and a strong government mandate.

The government, he cautioned, should appoint appropriate personnel to leadership roles, create systems that are resistant to institutional inertia, remain alert to efforts to create doubt by proprietary solutions vendors, and create efficient internal and external communications to articulate robust and widely understood strategy and goals.

“I would highly recommend setting up a high level combined Digital Transformation and Open Source steering group to look at strategic issues,” Arora said.

“You would also need an operational centre of excellence (for) such an open source programme office, which can be combined with a digital remit too.”

“I would also recommend 1-2 representatives from other governments or the EU and also an external open source person who has such knowledge.”

“This setup will allow the government to obtain best practice advice, but also be connected to Europe and possibly obtain funding and grants, and also reuse what is already available.”

Saranjit Arora’s checklist for open source driven digital transformation in governance.

• Talk to other governments, look at what they have done and reuse software, not build.
• Be committed to open source long term, as its a real and strong option that is only getting better and better over time. Look at Europe and talk to us there.
• There will be resistance from proprietary vendors, and individuals in government who support proprietary solutions.
• Communication and understanding is important. Adopting an open source strategy does not mean chucking out all proprietary systems and replacing them with open source versions.
• An OSS strategy means among other things, that we will positively assess and give favour to open source solutions, over proprietary solutions. The EU has only just adopted an OSS strategy in 2020, and that is after 20 years.
• This will be a gradual process, and the government will need guidance. Much of this is available in the UK and Europe and the EU will help for sure.
• Take a holistic view — the government is not alone, alongside this strategy one can develop open source skills in the community. The business community will also benefit as they interact with the government.
• There is a role for proprietary vendors to play in any government’s IT. We do not see a 100% open source government, but one with a mix that is largely open source.
• Open source is also a philosophy, not just software. It is about sharing and reuse, adopting an open source mindset.

KPMG’s report on OSS use in governance.

Citation: European Commission, Directorate-General for Informatics, (2020). Study on open source software governance at the European Commission, Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2799/755940.