3.7. Development of software from scratch¶
If the administration, following the comparative assessment proposed in 2. Guidelines for acquiring software, chooses to develop software from scratch using internal resources or through procurement, it is important to comply with the provisions of Article 69, and in particular:
- paragraph 1, which requires release under an open licence to allow for reuse by other administrations;
- paragraph 2, which requires the administration to acquire ownership of the software being developed;
- paragraph 2a, which confers the choice of platforms for the publication of the source code to these guidelines.
The following sections explore how to comply with the above provisions.
3.7.1. Releasing new software under open licence¶
It is important that Article 69(1), which requires release under open licence, is considered from the outset of development and not only at the end of the entire process. The technical requirements for release are described in Annex A: Guide to publishing software as open source.
The costs incurred in carrying out the work described in the guide will be significantly lower if the technical specifications described are followed from the outset of development.
In the case of procurement, it is essential that the authorities always include Annex A: Guide to thepublication of software as open source among the tender documents, for example, in an annex to the technical specifications.
Conversely, if the administration were to be late in complying with Article 69(1), using a tender procedure subsequent to the completion of the former, it would incur additional economic costs.
Therefore, it is recommended to develop the software directly on the selected code hosting tool, from the early stages of design, without waiting for the preliminary version to implement the release.
3.7.2. Acquisition of ownership of software developed from scratch¶
As already discussed in 1.5 Ownership, the administration must ensure full ownership of software created from scratch. Please refer to the aforementioned section for further information.