The Open Source Squad at the GSA

A team of open source evangelists is working within the General Services Administration as part of a federal initiative for more transparent government use of technology.

18F, a development unit within the GSA, was established a year ago to tap into the success of the United Kingdom's Government Digital Services unit by pursuing a similar strategy.

The unit is tasked with getting developers from Silicon Valley and the ranks of civic developers all over the country to change how federal technology gets done. The hub of this push for open source consolidation for government agencies is 18F's GitHub account.

This open source team, however, is only focused on establishing an open source model for software projects developed within federal agencies. It has a hands-off attitude toward integrating free and open source software as a replacement for proprietary licensed commercial software.

"There is no focus yet on integrating front-end open source products to replace proprietary software in government agencies...we are really more about custom software development in the open," Greg Godbout, executive director of the General Services Administration's 18F, told LinuxInsider.

18F opened its doors last March. The relatively small unit began operations as a transition team of eight members. The group banded together after an initial fellowship program ended.

The idea to start an open source centered movement within the GSA grew out of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program. The concept involved bringing highly-skilled technologists into the government, according to Hillary Hartley, deputy executive director of the General Services Administration's 18F.

The idea grew into a plan to get the same folks who participated in the temporary open source program to permanently join the government. At the end of 2013, a number of fellows who had been together found a way to get funding so they could continue working the program after their six-month fellowships ended.

"Eight of us in December [2013] stayed on in the GSA as an in-house consultancy team for the rest of the government. The program has grown from there," Hartley told LinuxInsider.

At the beginning of last year, the 18F consultants recognized that they needed to focus on hiring and the process of deploying websites. With open source concepts in mind, they focused on how to hire efficiently and how to work effectively with the rest of the GSA.

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The Open Source Squad at the GSA