The first major open source software installation in central government is now operational at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The Purchase and Pay project is being run by Whitehall buying agency the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and, if successful, could be made available to other departments.

The system gives the DWP secure online access to framework agreements and electronic catalogues, managed by commercial trading arm OGCbuying.solutions, making purchasing quicker, easier and potentially cheaper.

The Linux-based application went live in February, and 80 per cent of the department's stationery is now being purchased through the system. The OGC is also considering other goods and services.

The DWP's stationery buying is a significant start for Purchase and Pay, because of the size of the department and its reliance on huge volumes of printed forms such as benefits applications and pensions claims, an OGC spokesman told vnunet.com's sister title Computing.

"DWP is all forms, so the fact that 80 per cent is going through this system and it is stable has to be good news," he said.

"If it works for a huge department such as the DWP, in theory it will work for other big departments such as health, defence or education."

The initiative will feed into plans for a single platform to share purchasing information between government departments.

The OGC has not ruled out the use of open source for the development of the platform, and the experience gained from the Purchase and Pay system will prove useful.

"This project is another step towards interoperable systems across government. We aim to get departments to talk together, and the way to do that is to use systems that can pass information easily," explained the OGC spokesman.

Martin Sykes, executive director of the OGC's e-commerce directorate, said: "This work will give us access to valuable experience in the operation of open source software, while contributing to the DWP's needs for improved efficiency and effectiveness."

IBM acted as prime contractor for supplier Belmin's implementation of Eros software on an open source Linux-based architecture.

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