Open source software public report


Project Background, Objectives and Methodology



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2. Project Background, Objectives and Methodology

2.1 Project background


This project was supported by the Central Finance and Contracting Unit (CFCU) part of the consulting services for: “Advisory support to MIAP for building capacities of CIO Technical Council of Electronic Government: Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative and Open Source Solutions (OSS) Program”. Since at the beginning, the Albanian Government has embraced Open Government Partnership (OGP) Principles of transparency and open data challenge. With OSS, control over the software and the knowledge expressed therein rests with the users. OSS usage in the public sector is a natural approach in the development and acquisition of software because:

  • The government’s clients are its citizens, all the natural and legal persons of the country.

  • The information is public, i.e. these persons at the same time are the owners of the information kept and processed by government.

  • Government must therefore guarantee free (open, non-discriminatory) access to this public information.

  • It must guarantee permanence of public data.

  • It must guard against misuse of the data in a way that might undermine national security as well as the security of its citizens.

The characteristics of OSS make it much easier for the government to meet these requirements because:

  • OSS uses (and where it does not, can easily be modified to use) open, standard data formats. This allows free access to information and easier implementation of Open Data principles.

  • Using and maintaining OSS does not depend on the cooperativeness of a single provider. Due to the open source code, availability of compatible systems can be guaranteed. Many providers can compete, public data can be permanent and development communities are established around it.

The possibility of auditing the source code, thus guaranteeing it is free from code that maliciously or inadvertently compromises data security and integrity, is necessary for the national security and autonomy of a country as well as for the security of its citizens.

There are numerous projects from international institutions that suggest open source software has particular features that are inductive not only in cost reduction, but also in supporting sustainable development of software and capacity building. If properly implemented, OSS may provide the following additional benefits that are relevant not only to the public sector but also to the development of the IT market in Albania.



Strategic Benefits

Other Benefits

  • Developing local capacity/industry

  • Reducing imports/conserving foreign exchange

  • Enhancing national security

  • Reducing copyright infringements

  • Enabling localization

  • Increasing competition

  • Reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

  • Enhancing security

  • Achieving vendor independence

  • Social Benefits

  • Increasing access to information




Table , OSS Potential Benefits

Therefore, seeking to maximize the benefit from the use of OSS, MIAP started a project to study the current level of use and knowledge of OSS in public administration; to assess the local IT businesses’ experience and capability in supporting OSS; and to adopt its policy and procurement procedures for setting sound practices for OSS implementation in the public sector in Albania.

Furthermore, in many developing countries there is insufficient local capacity to properly support widespread OSS usage (or ICT usage of any kind) throughout the economy. Thus, OSS policies can and should be linked with the creation and development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to supply support services. In combination with an OSS government procurement strategy, this can create a vibrant ecosystem with strong supply and demand.

2.2 Objectives

The main objectives of the project are presented below:




  1. Collect information on the current use, knowledge and awareness of OSS in the public sector.

  2. Collect information on the current use, knowledge, awareness, perception and the capabilities to develop and services of OSS of the local IT private sector.

  3. Carry out a quick research of few interesting international case studies of OSS utilization in the public sector in order to identify and report some best practices and factors of success in the utilization of open source software

Provide guidelines and recommendations to the government about how to successfully evaluate and ensure a successful implementation and utilization of open source software in the public sector in the Republic of Albania.

2.3 Methodology and Tools


A combination of descriptive and qualitative research techniques was utilized to obtain insight into the current situation of OSS use in Albania. The main Questions and Indicators used for Public and Private Sector are listed in Annex 3.

2.3.1 Population frame


Although, the definition of OSS implementation ecosystem is very broad, for the purpose of this study, it was adopted a narrow definition of OSS ecosystem, which included Public institutions, ICT companies that offer services and products related to computers, and computer networks and systems, Universities where Computer Science is one of study fields, selection among the potential donors community, NGOs specialized in the area of IT or OSS and so on.

Companies operating in the following sectors/subsectors were excluded from the study:

Telecommunication companies;

Internet providers;

General consulting companies;

Electronic equipment wholesalers and retailers;

Also, the study has not been focused at the individual or end-user or developer level. Due to the time and scope constraints, the majority of survey responses have not been verified.

As a result, the first step of the study was to construct a population frame based on a few different sources.



Sources for the construction of the population frame

  • NAIS (National Albanian Information System). NAIS coordinated and supplied responses to the data collection questionnaires as well as made available a list of verified public/government institutions and their contact persons.

  • Albanian Information Technology Association. AITA has a list of its current members and potential future members which, though limited in number, includes some of the major players of the IT sector in Albania.

  • Direct contacts from the IT community in Albania, either at University or Donors community.

  • Online sources. Many IT companies have easily searchable websites. In addition, a number of companies keep ‘Facebook’ and ‘LinkedIn’ profiles which can be searched using key words.

  • Individuals. Many individuals are knowledgeable of IT companies and they could be a helpful source of information.

2.3.2 Survey Design


A number of specific factors were taken into consideration in developing the survey design. Given the modest familiarity of the survey participants with interview surveys, it was decided to keep the interview short and to avoid inclusion of questions regarding issues of sensitivity (such as detailed questions about revenue, employment, structure of the company, structure of business, etc.).

The Survey enabled the anonymity of their responses, if chosen to stay anonymous.

The main instrument of the research was a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared based on the best knowledge of the consultants and consulting with good similar international practices. There were two conflicting needs considered in designing the questionnaire: (1) the need to collect as much information as possible, and (2) the need to keep the questionnaire as short and as simple as possible. In the end, it was opted for a short questionnaire, designed for easy completion. The majority of the questions used in the questionnaire about Public Institutions and IT companies were close-ended questions.


CIO Survey

The questionnaire for the Public Administration was composed of 36 questions based on the following outline:

Background Information

Knowledge and Awareness of OSS

Usage of OSS

Perception of OSS

See section Error: Reference source not found of the Output 3 Report

Online ICT Companies Survey

The questionnaire for the ICT companies was composed of 39 questions based on the following outline:

General Information

Company Profile

Knowledge about OSS

OSS Usage and the technical capacities of the company

OSS Perception and the Contribution to the OSS Community

See section Error: Reference source not found of the Output 3 Report



2.3.3 In-depth interviews


In order to collect additional qualitative information and more insights into the OSS subject, over 20 detailed interviews were conducted with representatives from the vendors, companies, donors, universities, and government. Interviews were semi-structured and focused on general approach, knowledge, perception of OSS and its implementation in the Public Administration.

2.3.4 Field work


Fieldwork was conducted from October to December 2013.

Initially, an electronic copy questionnaire to gather information about the current level of OSS usage in the public sector was provided by Consultants to NAIS that distributed it to over 43 public administration institutions. While for the ICT Companies, an online survey was designed, prepared and distributed over to them via online survey and email to them.

Here it is a list of activities regarding this phase:


  • Preparation of questionnaires and online survey forms end of October – mid November 2013

  • Review of the Information, reports, articles, whitepapers during early October – mid November 2013

  • Submission of questionnaires to CIO’s or CIO representatives-end of October

  • Collection of questionnaires from CIO’s – November up to December 6, 2013

  • Analyses of CIO questionnaire data and interviews – mid November and December 2013

  • Preparation of public sector ICT staff knowledge of OSS – mid November 2013

  • Creation of the first draft of online survey for ICT businesses- mid November 2013

  • Online survey completion and approval from beneficiary – November 24, 2013

  • Submission of online survey and completion of the analyses and data of online survey – December 2 to 11, 2013

  • Interviews and meeting with representatives from the private business and universities – mid November to mid-December

  • Outline of report preparation - November 2013

  • Preparation of the final Document – November mid December 2013

2.3.5 Descriptive results


There were 31 structured questionnaires from most major government institutions collected through the collaboration of NAIS and 20 semi-structured interviews completed with representatives from government, private IT business and academia representatives. To a small extent, email was utilized to communicate with the interviewees. This was to inform possible respondents about the OSS project undertaken by MIAP and to confirm their availability for interviews.

In a few cases questionnaires were emailed to persons who were really interested to participate, but were not be available for face to-face interviews.


2.3.6 Qualitative Research


The qualitative methods included several category-focus groups of interviewees representing the main stakeholders as follows:

  • NAIS Representatives

  • Representatives of large international application vendors (Microsoft, Oracle)

  • Prominent representatives of Academia

  • Representative with largest system integrators and application development local businesses

  • Representatives of OSS community as forerunners in the use of OSS and persons who were keen to utilize FOSS

  • Representative of donors and other NGO that have supported or carried out research of OSS in Albania in the past

These semi-structured discussions were facilitated by the Consultants to obtain more in depth information on opinions, perceptions, and motivation about benefits and risks of the OSS utilization in the Albanian public sector and how constraints and barriers could be overcome as well as possible future directions.

Based on these estimates and the actual number of completed interviews, we can calculate a response rate of 80 % considering that 20 out of 25 people participated in the interview process.

This can be attributed to personal visits by the consultants for the face-to-face interviews. The list of the interviewers is presented in Annex 3.

2.3.7 Constraints


The overall process is based on the following constraints:

  1. No interview with IT personnel in Public administration. The interview provides proper information for the orientation of the IT specialists in the Government.

  2. Local government was not included.

  3. Central Government is partially represented.

  4. Short time

  5. Challenging scope

  6. Lack of a long-term software development strategy government wise





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