CH: Protests over no-bid software contract in Bern

The deal will also to be debated in the parliament of the canton. The debate, requested by parliament member Marc Jost, is one of the first actions by the parliamentary group on digital sustainability, founded earlier this month with the aim to increase the use of open source by Swiss public administrations.

In a press statement ch/open today says it is disconcerted by the publication this Wednesday of a licence contract that was signed more than four years ago, on 28 January 2005. "By publishing the contract now, the canton seems to want to make that deal legally correct, and to ensure it can spend another 27 million on a new contract for Microsoft software licences, lasting until 2017."

According to ch/open the canton should have put the contract out for public tender, even if, as the IT department argues, the canton is greatly dependent on Microsoft software and that only suppliers of Microsoft licences need to apply. "Producers of competing alternatives now have only ten days to file objections".

The open source advocacy group says it is concerned about the lack of transparency regarding public IT procurement. "Without any public process, contracts are awarded to a proprietary software vendor. This makes public administration increasingly dependent on Microsoft, giving it again no other option in eight years time."

The group say it seems more than a coincidence that twice in one month licence contracts worth millions are published discreetly.

Earlier today, in a preliminary ruling a court called invalid a contract for Microsoft licences signed by the Swiss government building agency BBL this February. BBL had also not issued a call for tender on the software.

More information:

Canton Bern software contract (in German, pdf)

Neue Zürcher Zeiting news item (in German)

Marc Jost web site

ch/open press statement (in German)

Neue Zürcher Zeiting news item (in German)