[OSGeo Africa] ESRI in Government and tender requirements

[Sibonelo Dlamini]

Hello All

I think that  we should seek legal advice on this topic. If possible, I
believe We got a strong opinions.

Kind regards
Sibonelo Dlamini
Cd:Ngi 0216584300


On Thu, 26 Jul 2018, 19:59 Kashmira <kashmirab at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello
>
> After reading the entire mail trail we must not shy away from the fact
> that, if the Government Sector already has a licence then they can
> stipulate that "the use of this existing environment is a must and
> enhancements may be required", its like asking them to replace all windows
> to linux (someday)
>
> I do agree that SITA itself should not be partial to ESRI seeing that they
> are products that do the same at a reduced cost. Yes we can raise this as
> an issue against SITA and request a review of the decision to list ESRI as
> the preferred product. We should seek legal advise if possible as I feel we
> do have a strong argument here.
>
> Thanks
>
> Kashmira
>
>
>
>
>
> On 26 July 2018 at 10:10, Gavin Fleming <gavinjfleming at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> I attended the briefing session for the Department of Home Affairs
>> geographical accessibility study (Thanks Zoltan for the heads-up).
>>
>> The ToR states that the service provider has to have ArcGIS. I asked for
>> this requirement to be removed since it does not matter what software the
>> service provider uses as long as they deliver the result. The response from
>> DHA was that Govt has a ’transversal ESRI licence’ and that all Govt
>> departments have to use ESRI! Never mind that this is completely contrary
>> to the FOSS policy agreed to by Cabinet in 2007 and against SITA
>> procurement policy, if it even is true that Govt is ‘has to’ use ESRI that
>> does NOT mean service providers have to. Nevertheless I got a vocal support
>> from other attendees as this requirement is ridiculous and exclusionary.
>>
>> DHA went further to say they want service providers to use ArcGIS so they
>> don’t end up with issues using the data that service providers deliver.
>> They are confusing software with data and don’t seem to be aware (or are so
>> brainwashed) that most formats produced by most GIS software these days are
>> completely interoperable. Furthermore they are unaware of and indeed
>> flouting the MIOS (SA Govt Minimum Interoperability Standards).
>>
>> Even worse and quite nonsensical is this formal response from DHA to all
>> attendees of the briefing session:
>>
>>    -
>>
>>    Relating to SITA circular 1 of 2017/18 and National Treasury SCM
>>    circular 3 of 2017/8, it is a requirement that all Government departments
>>    make use of ESRI South Africa for software and therefore the format
>>    required will be in Arc GIS format.
>>
>> Firstly there is no such thing as ‘Arc GIS format’. Secondly this is
>> blatantly incorrect (and illegal if it is true). Lastly, can anyone
>> enlighten the list as to the contents of the two circulars mentioned and
>> whether they even support this argument?
>>
>> Your thoughts? Anyone willing to take action?
>>
>> regards
>>
>> Gavin
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Thank You
>
> Kashmira
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