3. Three-Step Software Solutions Analysis

Agencies must obtain sufficient rights to custom-developed code to fulfill both the Government-wide reuse objectives and the open source release objectives outlined in this policy’s pilot program.

In meeting their software needs, agencies must conduct the three-step analysis outlined below. This analysis is intended to leverage existing solutions—consistent with principles of category management21 and shared services22—and suitable commercial solutions, while mitigating duplicative spending on custom-developed software solutions. These steps are consistent with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) long-standing policy on investments in major information systems.23 Moreover, consistent with OMB’s memorandum on Technology Neutrality,24 agencies must consider open source, mixed source, and proprietary software solutions equally and on a level playing field, and free of preconceived preferences based on how the technology is developed, licensed, or distributed.

Agencies must also consider several factors throughout each stage of the three-step analysis:

  1. Hybrid Solutions: Solutions containing a mixture of existing Federal, commercial, and/or custom-developed solutions should be considered throughout each step of the analysis.
  2. Modular Architecture: Agencies should consider modular approaches to solution architecture. As discussed in the Digital Government Strategy, modularity can reduce overall risk and cost while increasing interoperability and technical flexibility.
  3. Cloud Computing: Consistent with OMB strategy, agencies are encouraged to evaluate safe and secure cloud computing options throughout each step of the analysis.27
  4. Open Standards: Regardless of the specific solution selected, all software procurements and Government software development projects should consider utilizing open standards whenever practicable in order to increase the interoperability of all Government software solutions. Open standards enable software to be used by anyone at any time, and can spur innovation and growth regardless of the technology used for implementation—be it proprietary, mixed source, or OSS in nature.
  5. Targeted Considerations: Agencies must select a software solution that best meets the operational and mission needs of the agency, taking into consideration factors such as performance, total life-cycle cost of ownership, security and privacy protections, interoperability, ability to share or reuse, resources required to later switch vendors, and availability of quality support. These considerations should be taken into account during all three steps of the analysis.

Footnotes