The co-author of a bold new plan advocating more use of open-source software by the Department of Defense and related agencies is the latest nationally recognized speaker to join the lineup for this fall’s Government Open Source Conference.

John Scott of RadiantBlue Technologies, a Washington, D.C., firm offering specialized IT development and consulting for defense, national security, law enforcement and intelligence communities, recently co-authored the “Open Technology Development Road Map” for the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary for Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts. Released just weeks ago, Scott’s report has drawn widespread attention, particularly for its discussion of how to introduce open source products into the complex Defense procurement process – a major development for proponents of government use of such software. Because open source programs are typically distributed free of charge and shared widely among developers in the programming community, some organizations have struggled with how to consider them within procurement guidelines that hinge on purchase prices and proprietary rights.

“We are thrilled the DoD has made this body of work publicly available and that John will join us this fall,” said Deborah Bryant, conference chair. “The Open Technology Development Road Map provides concrete approaches to a number of key issues to be featured at the conference, such as planning, acquisition, development and implementation of open source solutions, and it does so for an audience spanning from IT senior management to contractors.”

“Open technology is doing for mass innovation what the assembly line did for mass production,” said Ben Berry, chief information officer for the Oregon Dept. of Transportation. “Get ready for the era when collaboration replaces command and control while adapting procurement processes to include open source competition.”

“Findings in the [new] report are applicable beyond the Department of Defense. Similar opportunity exists in state and local government to embrace the open source model of production, to develop software once and reuse it across organizational boundaries,” said Andy Stein, information technology director for the city of Newport News, Va. “The traditional buy-or-build purchasing model in government needs to be augmented with a third alternative that enables creative leverage of collaborative software development, software reuse and shared cost models for support, maintenance, hosting and operations,” Stein added.

Scott says open source is a particularly good fit for Defense, where reacting with speed to developing dynamics around the world is at a historic premium. The flexible, highly adaptable nature of open source software gives military decision makers the ability to tailor technology for specific circumstances and needs. “Agility is of the essence for military leaders and planners who increasingly are operating in environments where all players have access to technology,” said Scott. “That means we must change our models for buying, developing and deploying software , which lie at the heart of our defense systems.”