Policy paper

Open Standards principles

Updated 5 April 2018

Foreword

Open Standards are one of the most powerful tools we have to open up government. They make it possible for the smallest supplier to compete with the largest. They make data open for any citizen to audit. They unlock the transformative power of open source software.

This version of the Open Standards Principles builds on the version originally published in 2012 and revised in 2015. They underscore our commitment to digital modernisation and increased accessibility. With these principles in place, we are on-course to recognise the massive efficiency gains of web-scale technologies.

We have accomplished so much with open standards. Huge transformational programmes such as Verify, Pay, and the GOV.UK website are all backed by mature and scalable open standards. We are improving the way documents are generated, edited, and stored by adopting the Open Document Format (ODF).

We continue to drive the development of open standards by working with industry and academia and becoming members of standards development organisations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Government technology must remain open to everyone. These principles ensure our future technology choices will be affordable, secure, and innovative. We know there are areas of government which have not yet fully embraced these principles, and we are determined to create an environment where openness can succeed.

The Open Standards Principles apply to every aspect of government IT and will improve public services for all users.

Open standards are for everyone.

The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office

Introduction

This policy explains how the government selects open standards for software interoperability, data and document formats in government IT. It also guides departments on how to implement open standards.

These principles describe how the government will specify and select open standards and how these standards can be implemented in open source and proprietary software. They support the open data and digital strategies set out in the Government Transformation Strategy 2017-2020 and the UK Digital Strategy.

The Open Standards Board will use the principles in this policy to evaluate specific open standards and require them to be used where relevant.

These principles will ensure that the selected standards will enable:

  • software to interoperate through open protocols
  • data exchange to occur between software and data stores

Out of scope of these principles are standards for internal processing within hardware (including telecommunications hardware), which are not relevant to external interfaces.

All government departments and agencies will use these principles. The government also encourages local government, the wider public sector and devolved administrations to adopt these principles.

Point 4 of the Technology Code of Practice states that you should ‘build technology that uses open standards to ensure your technology works and communicates with other technology, and is easily upgraded and expanded’.

Cabinet Office controls guidance must be followed for all relevant spend. You can contact the Government Digital Service (GDS) Standards Assurance team for guidance about spend control at gdsapprovals@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk.

Defining open standards

Open standards give users permission to copy, distribute and use technology freely or at low cost.

The Government only selects open standards for software interoperability, data and document formats that have:

  • collaboration between all interested parties, not just individual suppliers
  • a transparent and published decision-making process that is reviewed by subject matter experts
  • a transparent and published feedback and ratification process to ensure quality

Open standards must also be:

  • well documented, publicly available and free to use to provide fair access
  • mature, unless they are in the context of creating innovative solutions
  • supported by the market to demonstrate the independence of platforms, applications and vendors
  • released for use with a royalty free licence which is irrevocable unless there is a breach of conditions
  • compatible with both open source and proprietary licensed solutions

Why you should use open standards

By using the Open Standards Principles for software interoperability, data and document formats, government bodies are supporting:

  • equal access to government IT contracts for open source and proprietary software providers
  • improved flexibility and ability when cooperating with other government organisations, citizens and businesses
  • sustainable cost for government IT projects

In addition, open standards can be used to help:

  • avoid vendor lock-in to a specific piece of technology, or supplier
  • software interoperability
  • reuse of software components built by others
  • the sharing of data between services and systems
  • reduce the overall cost of your digital service or technology programme

Principles for selecting open standards

The government adopts open standards to use in government IT using the open standards for government data and technology process. Anyone can suggest an open standard for adoption and a central open standards secretariat maintains the open standards process.

There are 7 principles for selecting open standards for use in government.

  1. Open standards must meet user needs.
  2. Open standards must give suppliers equal access to government contracts.
  3. Open standards must support flexibility and change.
  4. Open standards must support sustainable cost.
  5. Select open standards using well-informed decisions.
  6. Select open standards using fair and transparent processes.
  7. Specify and implement open standards using fair and transparent processes.

1. Open standards must meet user needs

Users may be government users or citizens.

The main aims of open standards are to let users:

  • exchange data using the software of their choice
  • improve the clarity and consistency of the data
  • improve the interaction between departments
  • improve the interaction between government and citizen

The selection process that government uses to identify cross-government open standards for IT starts with identifying the user needs.

To meet user needs, the Open Standards Board, in association with government bodies, must select open standards that:

  • are free for users
  • use clear specifications so suppliers can easily understand and use them
  • don’t specify any particular brands or products in their requirements as these could limit the usability of the technology
  • are accessible so that no one is digitally excluded
  • provide efficient services to citizens, businesses and delivery partners

2. Open standards must give suppliers equal access to government contracts

European procurement law (Article 42 of Directive 2014/24/EU) requires that technical specifications must give suppliers equal access to government contracts, and not create obstacles for opening up public procurement to competition.

Open standards help give suppliers equal access by:

  • being neutral and flexible so both open source and proprietary technology can implement them
  • reducing unintentional contract lock-ins thereby increasing the diversity of technology and value for money in government contracts
  • helping break down large IT contracts into smaller components that can be purchased from multiple suppliers while keeping a consistent infrastructure or service

Implications for organisations

When you’re specifying IT requirements for software interoperability, and data or document formats (that are either designed and built in-house, outsourced or purchased), you must:

Implications for government frameworks

Government frameworks for IT procurements must:

  • specify the use of open standards for software interoperability, data and document formats, unless there is a clear reason why this is not possible
  • follow the principle of equivalence as stated in section 11 of the Regulation 42 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015

3. Open standards must support flexibility and change

Government departments need to share appropriate data with each other to provide efficient services to citizens. By using open formats, departments can:

  • standardise data which will reduce the likelihood of them storing duplicated data
  • integrate their IT systems to improve communication and efficiency for users (flexible IT will help make existing and new systems compatible)
  • easily transfer data and information between old and new systems
  • make data and application programming interfaces (APIs) available - this lets others produce alternative, innovative views of government data and access government services

The Technology Code of Practice contains information about available government platforms and guidance on interoperability and data.

Implications for organisations

If you are managing an IT project, you should ensure it is flexible and avoids vendor lock-in by:

  • using open standards for smaller, component-based IT projects
  • using mature open standards with broad market support for large, higher risk IT projects to provide a stable infrastructure on which to build
  • ensuring data is shareable across government IT systems
  • make your government APIs available to use so others can build value-added services with government information and data

To meet data protection, privacy and security requirements, you must follow the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data policies as laid out in the Technology Code of Practice.

You must ensure your government body has the skills to make appropriate choices in IT specifications and bid assessments. The government uses the Digital, data and technology professions to focus on training and skills development for digital professionals across the Civil Service.

4. Open standards must support sustainable cost

The government created the Cabinet Office controls to ensure all new technology gives taxpayers value for money.

Using open standards can help achieve financial savings and sustainable costs in government IT by:

  • encouraging share and reuse of IT solutions and components across government bodies
  • reducing system complexity and the need for custom integration between solutions
  • avoiding vendor lock-in
  • providing equal access for suppliers to compete for government IT contracts
  • simplifying exit and migration costs (so government teams are flexible to move to different suppliers)

The Cabinet Office will also ensure an open standard has economic benefits for government during the process for assessing open standards for software interoperability, and data and document formats. The Cabinet Office, advised by the Open Standards Board, will carry out an appraisal to assess whether an open standard is cost effective and creates value for money.

If the assessment is positive, the Open Standards Board will advise government to adopt an open standard or standards-based profile and make the use of it compulsory for departments and agencies. A standards-based profile defines subsets or combinations of standards that have a specific scope and function but still conform to the related compulsory standards.

Implications for organisations

When you use open standards to support sustainable cost in technology, you should:

  • specify compulsory open standards or open standards profiles when agreeing to new IT expense for existing system modification or new systems (you must do this according to the principle of equivalence set out in section 11 of the Regulation 42 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015)
  • estimate exit and migration costs at the start of any new IT project or programme - make sure you associate these costs with the incumbent supplier or system rather than the new supplier or system (this will give you a consistent way to compare the overall costs of new IT projects when making value for money judgements)

If an existing system is no longer modifiable, you should:

  • consider it legacy IT and not extend its use
  • form exit management plans to transition to open standards for software interoperability, and data and document formats
  • follow a reasonable timescale when transitioning and align with the refresh lifecycle of your existing technology

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is responsible for new procurement frameworks that include categories relevant to software interoperability, data and document formats. New frameworks should align with the Open Standards Principles.

In exceptional cases, your government body can request an exemption from using open standards. Your government body must complete an economic appraisal for each request and the Open Standards Board will consider each exemption on a case by case basis.

5. Select open standards using well-informed decisions

The government selects open standards using practical and informed decision making. This requires taking into account the consequences for users and government finances.

Open standards evolve, and updated versions or new standards develop in response to technology innovation. To avoid facing increased costs in the future, the government will select open standards that are:

  • compatible with other government systems
  • interoperable across the government IT estate
  • supported by the market, either in the short or long term
  • interoperable with any international delivery partners you’re engaging with
  • appropriate for sharing information and data across government bodies, nationally and internationally within legal and security constraints

You still need to do a full evaluation when choosing alternative open standards that are not selected by government but are proposed through an open procurement process. In these situations, professionals scrutinising government IT projects must have the knowledge and skills to assess open standards for inclusion in IT specifications. The proposed standards must still meet the IT specifications, and interoperability and implementation must be possible across government bodies.

Implications for organisations

If you work in government IT and you create IT specifications or have a scrutiny and oversight role, you should follow the guidance on standards selection.

The Open Standards Board determines which open standards your government body should adopt. The Board often make the adoption of certain standards compulsory.

The government has published its open standards process and governance structure on GOV.UK. The compulsory open standards will meet government requirements, and keep pace with technology and market changes by having regular reviews and updates.

The selection criteria for open standards in government IT uses the European Common Assessment Method for Standards and Specifications (CAMSS), and considers:

  • software and project security and legal requirements
  • software user and operational needs
  • economic efficiency to be gained from using the standard
  • interoperability needs of government users and citizens
  • market support for the standard
  • potential for vendor lock-in
  • the maturity of the open standard

Open standards only become compulsory if they meet these criteria. When new versions of compulsory standards are available they go through the same process to make sure they still meet all the criteria. Selected open standards include a clear description of their specific operational requirements.

If you’re involved in the standards selection process, you may develop open reference implementations to provide information on how departments can best deploy open standards. You can also encourage suppliers, voluntary groups or academia to contribute to the open reference implementation.

If you’re a government body applying for an exemption to a compulsory open standard, you must provide evidence of a sensible and informed decision-making process. You’ll have to provide an impact analysis for either:

  • not using a compulsory open standard
  • choosing an alternative standard

The Cabinet Office provides guidance to government bodies on the process for requesting an exemption to this open standards policy.

6. Select open standards using fair and transparent processes

By selecting open standards with a fair and transparent process the government:

  • gains access to a large amount of implementation and user-based knowledge
  • shares information with users and suppliers of government services, and experts who develop and apply standards
  • engages with the public and subject matter experts

Implications for organisations

The publisher of the open standard must allow users and subject matter experts to report issues with any of the selected compulsory open standards by:

  • supporting public engagement
  • publishing clear and thorough meeting notes
  • providing a transparent feedback process

If you use open standards or you’re a subject matter expert on open standards, you should report any issues by:

  • joining any public engagement forums or groups relating to the standard or standards-based profile
  • publishing clear and thorough notes from any meetings discussing the standard
  • joining the government’s open standard feedback process outlined on GOV.UK

7. Specify and implement open standards using fair and transparent processes

The government must be fair and transparent so it is accountable for its decisions when:

  • procuring IT
  • selecting open standards
  • agreeing an exemption from the Open Standards Principles

Government and suppliers need to engage with each other to make sure they use the appropriate IT specifications when publishing opportunities on commercial frameworks. This will make sure the IT requirements are clear and there are equal opportunities for suppliers to tender.

You must be transparent when describing which open standard you want and how you want it implemented. This will allow the government to standardise IT solutions or components of IT solutions. These standardised IT solutions will work within the department and agency they were built for, while also working reliably with other government bodies. Government bodies can reduce costs and increase benefits if their IT solutions are interoperable.

Implications for organisations

If you are helping specify or implement an open standard, you must maintain fair and transparent processes. Unless there are security reasons preventing you from publishing details, you must publish:

  • which open standards you use for software interoperability, data and document formats
  • your implementation plans to transition to open standards or open standard profiles
  • your agreed exemptions to this open standards policy, specifying the open standards rejected and why
  • the exit management strategies which you’ve developed as part of exceptional extensions to IT contracts or legacy solutions, or in preparation for a technical refresh project (the strategy should include the current standards used and the transition to open standards or the compulsory open standards)

You must also make any extensions or variations to open standards for software interoperability, data or document formats available under licence for others to use.

The tender process for IT contracts must be transparent and must follow the appropriate Crown Commercial Service process, including publication on Contracts Finder. If you have a complaint relating to the specification of standards during the procurement process, contact the Cabinet Office Mystery Shopper Scheme.

Further information