Within the framework of demand and value, the single most important consideration is the preservation of data and the interoperability of systems.

1. New software acquisitions should demonstrate conformance to relevant open standards and interoperability with open systems.

At each point on the procurement and deployment chain, software should be assessed on its merits. Thus:

2. Open source and proprietary software options should be assessed using the same criteria, including total cost of ownership over the expected lifetime of the deployment.

These are also the first two points of ‘Open Source Software: Use within UK Government’.