[foundation-board] Does OKF want to go for data.gov.eu tender?

Wed Feb 9 14:09:16 UTC 2011

Just to pitch in my tuppence worth if I may...

It seems a natural fit for OKF and strategically should also help ensure CKAN's pre-eminence in delivering data catalogues.

Given our existing EU partnership for LOD2 and ePSIplatform it makes sense to try and build on those relationships first rather than bid with new partners who may be unknown quantities.

However it is also potentially a huge time sink and I do worry because it seems Jonathan and Rufus are running at capacity as it is!

All the best,
Jason

On 9 Feb 2011, at 11:32, Jonathan Gray wrote:

> Bump!
> 
> We're already starting to be approached about prospective tender partnerships.
> 
> Any thoughts on this from the board? I'm happy to manage this, meet
> with people and coordinate work form our end on the submission of a
> tender, but I need a steer from upstairs (*waves*) as to whether this
> is a Good Idea, the Right Way To Go, etc.
> 
> On the basis of our experience doing data.gov.uk, does the OKF want to
> be involved in data.gov.eu? E.g. we might decide to go for it as long
> as it doesn't divert our time/energy from elsewhere, or as long as our
> community activities are flourishing to such and such an extent and so
> on.
> 
> In the longer term, if it were my decision, I would be very interested
> to know more about how we're spending our time and energy. I'll send
> another, separate, lower priority mail about that now.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 9:18 PM, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org> wrote:
>> Hello board!
>> 
>> I have only recently noticed that an advance notice for a data.gov.eu
>> tender went out on 31st December (details pasted below and at [1]).
>> 
>> The OKF is exceptionally well placed and has the relevant
>> experience/expertise to undertake work in this area. In particular:
>> 
>>  * work is already underway as part of the publicdata.eu work, that
>> is part of LOD2 - see lod2.okfn.org for more details
>>  * we are already working on numerous (around 28) data catalogues in
>> different countries and now have quite a bit of experience in this
>> area
>> 
>> I would be happy to lead work on a tender, if we decided it was a good
>> idea (FWIW I think this is highly worth doing, and would be happy to
>> start to brainstorm/put this together if deemed necessary).
>> 
>> That said this is really a matter for the board and the community to
>> decide: is this the kind of thing that the OKF should be doing?
>> 
>> If I were to make the case that I think we should do it I would say that:
>> 
>>  * we want to make sure this is done well, and not by some large IT
>> company with no other interest in this area
>>  * we want to ensure there is an appropriate focus on open licensing
>> (as opposed to non-open PSI which is simply freely accessible)
>>  * we want this to be the technical plumbing for a rich ecosystem of
>> open data, and this is an unbelievable opportunity to pursue this
>> vision, and go a significant way towards realising the dream of an
>> 'apt-get for data' across Europe
>>  * we want to include a broad range of stakeholders including data
>> journalists and civic society stakeholders, and work with these
>> communities to make sure we make something that responds to concrete
>> demands and interoperates with other bits of technology and existing
>> projects
>> 
>> That said, we want to be careful to ensure:
>> 
>>  * we have the capacity to deliver well on this
>>  * we manage this carefully and have a strong vision about why we are
>> doing this and how we want to do it
>>  * we don't do this because its a source of income which we can use
>> to fund other stuff that we're *really* interested in - i.e. if we do
>> it we should do it because we *really* want to do it, not as a means
>> to an end
>> 
>> I'd very much appreciate a steer from the board on whether or not
>> people think we should proceed. If we want to go for it there will be
>> a comparatively short window between tender release and tender
>> deadline. Hence if we decide to do it, we need to start thinking long
>> and hard now!
>> 
>> Thanks very much to all for all your time.
>> 
>> All the best,
>> 
>> Jonathan
>> 
>> [1] See: http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:389984-2010:TEXT:EN:HTML
>> (details excerpted below)
>> 
>> II.1)
>> TITLE ATTRIBUTED TO THE CONTRACT BY THE CONTRACTING AUTHORITY
>> Data.gov.eu
>> II.2)
>> TYPE OF CONTRACT AND PLACE OF DELIVERY OR OF PERFORMANCE
>> Service category: No 11
>> II.3)
>> SHORT DESCRIPTION OF NATURE AND QUANTITY OR VALUE OF SUPPLIES OR SERVICES
>> 
>> The procurement action(s) would support the definition and launch of
>> an initial data.gov.eu initiative for the benefit of reusers across
>> Europe and eventually becoming the recognised and widely used European
>> access point to government information. The procurement may be split
>> into different lots. The objectives of the(se) procurement(s) are:
>> 1) undertake a needs assessment exercise to define, to design, to test
>> and to launch a pilot data.gov.eu infrastructure that would:
>> (a) make available the data resources created by the European
>> Commission, European agencies and the other institutions; and
>> (b) become the Web portal to establish together with the Member States
>> an integrated and shared EU-wide governmental data information system;
>> 2) provide a first prototype of the data.gov.eu infrastructure (main
>> objective of the procurement); and
>> 3) define an upscaling strategy in view of it becoming the recognised
>> and widely used European access point to government information.
>> Total amount of contracts to be launched under categories 10 and 11:
>> 11 000 000 EUR.Division into lots No
>> 
>> --
>> Jonathan Gray
>> 
>> Community Coordinator
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> http://blog.okfn.org
>> 
>> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Gray
> 
> Community Coordinator
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://blog.okfn.org
> 
> http://twitter.com/jwyg
> http://identi.ca/jwyg
> 
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--
Jason Kitcat
Project Co-ordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation

+44 (0) 7956 886 508

http://www.okfn.org
http://twitter.com/jasonkitcat