Open source software for e-government in Bulgaria

By EDRi · June 16, 2004

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Internet Society of Bulgaria (ISOC-Bulgaria) have launched a project to stimulate the use of free/open source software for e-government projects.

The project aims to help municipal governments in South-eastern Europe to use free/open source software applications to enhance government transparency and people’s access to municipal services. Initially launched in Bulgaria, the project will soon expand to include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.

Under this project, which will last 18 months in its first phase, several Balkan cities will benefit from the creation of e-municipalities. The city of Kurdjali, which serves as a pilot, requested the support of UNDP and ISOC–Bulgaria to help enhance citizens’ access to services and information resources and reduce the cost of the access tools that are required to be part of the global networked economy.

Until now, the Bulgarian government has used free/open source software for servers – for large mail and database programs – but not for desktop applications. The project will now change this. Using openly published source codes, the project will bring new opportunities to complement the use of commercial desktop applications. Since open source solutions are available for free or at little cost, local governments will be able to minimise the cost of buying and maintaining software.

Open Source Software project in Bulgaria (07.06.2004) http://www.undp.bg/en/documents/press_releases/2004/june_7_2004.pdf

(Thanks to Veni Markovski, ISOC Bulgaria)