Brazilian government lists preferred Open Source applications

The "Instruction for Contracting IT Services" was published last week by the Secretary of Logistics and IT, part of the Ministry of Planning. The instruction is intended prevent equivalent software solutions from being developed several times.

"The portal should be consulted by public managers before starting a new software development project, to check whether a comparable software solution already exists", an introduction on the web site explains. If a solution exists, the procurement can then be adapted to improve on that software project.

The list of software applications contains Open Source applications such as the e-learning suite e-Proinfo, developed by the Brazilian ministry of Education and published under the GNU General Public License. Another example is KyaPanel, an applications to manage email servers, combining Open Source tools such as Postfix and Courier. The list also describes GSAN, a system, based on Open Source software, for managing water and sewage services. "GSAN was created to raise the level of performance and business efficiency of water supply and sewage collection services. It can be used by services companies of any size."

Brazil is the world's fifth largest country both by population and geographical area. The country has some 187 million inhabitants.

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Further information:

• Instruction for Contracting IT Services
• Announcement on Software Livre site (in Portuguese)