The First U.S. CIO, Vivek Kundra: Bodes Well for Open Source
by Sam Dean - Mar. 06, 2009Comments (1)- Related Blog Posts
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The web is abuzz with talk of the United States' first CIO, Vivek Kundra. Born in Delhi, India, raised in Tanzania, and a fluent Swahili speaker, Kundra has a very diverse background. He also makes no secret of his love for Google. and, as noted on Wikipedia, "he has been recognized for his work in developing programs to spur open source and crowd sourced applications using publicly accessible Web services from the District of Columbia with an initiative called Apps for Democracy, which he created with iStrategyLabs." Is Vivek good news for open source?
You can find a transcript of Kundra's introductory remarks as federal CIO here. He is clearly focused on the amount of technology spending that the United States government does, which he pegs at a whopping $71 billion a year. His introductory remarks directly address open source, including comments on what it's good for and what it's not.
He appears to mostly welcome open source solutions, but adds that if "you look at the FAA or if you are looking at DHS, there are some mission critical systems that you can't apply an open source solution to." He also singles out expensive technology contracts that go nowhere as poised for elimination:
"I would argue that, whether it is open source or proprietary software one of the biggest ticket items when it comes to information technology on that $71 billion dollars is the money the federal government spends on contracts and contracts that, frankly, some of them haven't performed very well and there have not been consequences. And, we need to become serious and tough on those contractors that are not going to deliver. Eliminating those contracts and making sure that we have consultants and contractors that are adding value to the federal government."
The Apps for Democracy initiative is probably the most telling example of Kundra's friendliness toward open source. The Washington, D.C. program included cash prizes for citizens who created open source mashup applications of use to the government. One of the applications built by Apps for Democracy contestants and ushered into government use by Kundra was iLive.at, which maps schools, banks, and other sites near to any particular street address.
The New York Times notes that Kundra will focus on improving technology in healthcare, and that he is also a strong proponent of cloud computing. Matt Asay notes that Vivek is probably very good news for open source, and I agree, especially given the Obama administration's existing interest in open source. It's likely that Google and open source will both benefit from the appointment of this first-time federal CIO.
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