Quebec Government in the dock for ignoring open source

FACIL, a Canadian voluntary organisation that promotes free and open source software, has filed a suit with the Quebec Superior Court against the Quebec Provincial Government. The suit was filed on 15th July and has come to light during the last week.

FACIL alleges that the provincial government has refused to consider competitive bids from all software providers, but has misused a legal loophole to buy software exclusively from proprietary vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle.

In addition, FACIL claims government buyers are sidestepping laws requiring competitive bidding and local source preferences by misusing an exception that allows direct purchases from proprietary vendors where no other options are available and estimates the Quebec government is wasting $80 mn./year on Windows Vista licences alone.

The Inquirer carries a full report, whilst French speakers may like to read the report on FACIL’s website.

Hat tip: MJ Ray