Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
Governments aiming to digitally transform their services in the cloud often face a significant challenge: delivering scalable, accessible, and secure innovations for citizens amid constraints like limited cloud-skilled talent, budget limitations, and time. Embracing open source technology—essentially taking the “open source route”—offers a solution. This approach allows governments to utilize proven code, architecture, and technical designs that have been vetted by other organizations, including governmental bodies.
The open source method is a practical and secure strategy that can reduce project timelines by months or even years. By leveraging secure code and established standards that are available at little to no cost, governments can tailor these resources to align with their specific objectives. During my tenure managing the Digital Marketplace for the UK government, I witnessed firsthand the advantages of open source in government. Coupled with transparent processes, open source solutions expedited digital project execution, fostered trust with constituents and the global community, and resulted in significant savings in both time and money. Now, as Chanci Turner, the senior manager of government services at Amazon Web Services (AWS), I’m eager to share best practices for government leaders interested in adopting open source solutions.
Watch our brief AWS Institute film, “Use What Works,” featuring insights from my colleague on the AWS Government Transformation Team, Jordan Smith, and me, as we discuss the advantages of maintaining transparency and leveraging open source.
Global Adoption of Open Source Solutions by Governments
Governments worldwide are already adapting open source solutions to enhance their public service transformation initiatives. The European Commission is currently in its third phase of the Open Source Software Strategy (2020-23), which aims to “encourage and leverage the transformative, innovative, and collaborative power of open source, along with its principles and development practices.”
In Italy, the Ministry of Defence embraced an open source approach to documentation in 2015, with the support of The Document Foundation and Italy’s Agency for the Digitalisation of the Public Sector (AGID). Germany’s federal government has pledged to promote open source as a key element of its digital modernization in its coalition agreement. Meanwhile, Buenos Aires, Argentina, is celebrating a decade of employing open source strategies. Since the launch of BA Data, they have made over 300 datasets publicly available to advance their vision of “making open government a way of governing.” Furthermore, India’s Digital India initiative, launched in 2012, advocates for open source solutions across various services, from document verification to urban planning.
Building a Global Community of Innovation through Open Source
My experience as the service manager for the UK government’s Digital Marketplace, as well as leading digital initiatives for the Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office, solidified my belief in transparent methodologies and open source technology. This goes beyond just providing updates and good governance. By utilizing and improving open source technologies, then sharing your own tailored solutions, standards, components, and data, you promote collaboration within a global community, accelerating innovation worldwide.
My team developed the UK government Digital Marketplace, aimed at helping public sector buyers find suitable technology and personnel for digital projects, using open source software. Prior to the Digital Marketplace’s creation, the government struggled to deliver the necessary skills and technology for reform. The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) established the Digital Marketplace to fulfill this need. Since its inception, the value of government contracts for digital work skyrocketed from £180M to over £2.8B. This also fostered economic growth by enabling contracts to be awarded to thousands of organizations rather than few entities. In March 2020, the UK Crown Commercial Service reported that 73% of the value of contracts awarded to small and medium enterprises came through the Digital Marketplace. As access to digital technology and expertise improved, the Digital Marketplace accelerated overall government transformation. You can discover more about how the Digital Marketplace was created in the AWS Institute short film, “Buy Better.”
The Digital Marketplace evolved over several years on GOV.UK, adapting through real-world usage. When the Australian government sought assistance in developing its own Digital Marketplace, they successfully created it in just five weeks, thanks to our open source methodology. The Australian government saved countless hours that could be redirected toward addressing citizen needs and delivering essential new services.
Earning Trust Through Open Source Processes
A vital aspect of open source methodology is the commitment to publishing and sharing your work. This allows for scrutiny of what is built and how taxpayer funds are utilized. Since taxpayers finance government projects, it is both fair and necessary to share the outputs on an open source platform—this includes data, processes, documentation, and schemas. Whether the services funded by taxpayers are aimed at citizens or businesses, open source code can be reused and innovated upon, creating a collaborative loop that benefits everyone involved: governments, organizations, businesses, and the public. In fact, both the Belgian and French governments have enacted laws mandating the sharing of these innovations.
As my team worked on the Digital Marketplace, we consistently updated a blog detailing our progress and challenges. This transparency enabled us to receive constructive feedback from outside our development and agency stakeholders, leading to essential improvements. Being open about our processes allowed us to create a product that truly met citizen needs from the outset, rather than discovering later that it missed the mark. This openness fostered trust with our leaders and colleagues as we integrated their feedback into our solutions.
Using Open Source with Security Considerations
Concerns about the security of open source tools are common among many governments and organizations. To address this, the US White House convened a meeting in January 2022 to discuss these issues and seek improvements, including processes for identifying and resolving vulnerabilities. It is crucial for every organization to establish clear guidelines, governance, processes, and checks to manage potential security, legal, and operational risks. Open source code benefits from community scrutiny and testing, and cryptographic tools, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard, are developed openly and approved by the US National Security Agency (NSA). However, expertise is necessary to determine which pieces of code should remain closed, particularly when it comes to sensitive materials like unreleased policies. Teams must ensure that their code is robust and secure.
In conclusion, governments can significantly benefit from adopting open source solutions to enhance their service delivery and foster innovation. By prioritizing transparency and community collaboration, they can create a more effective and trustworthy relationship with their constituents.
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