Open source goes live in Whitehall

The first major open-source software installation in central government is up and running at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

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

The system gives DWP secure online access to the various framework agreements and electronic catalogues managed by commercial trading arm OGCbuying.solutions, allowing the department to buy products quicker, easier and potentially cheaper.

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

DWP's stationery purchasing 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 Computing.

'DWP is all forms so the fact that 80 per cent is going through this system already and it is stable has to be good news. If it works for a huge department like DWP, then in theory it will work for other big departments like health, defence, or education,' he said.

The initiative will feed into plans for a single platform to share purchasing information between government departments (Computing, 19 February). 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 feed into the programme.

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

Martin Sykes, executive director of OGC's ecommerce directorate, said: 'This work will give us access to valuable experience in the operation of open source software, whilst contributing to 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.