[OSGeo Africa] Help prevent DRDLR and other government entities from deviously renewing their ESRI ELAs

Zoltan Szecsei zoltans at geograph.co.za
Wed Sep 11 22:19:13 PDT 2019


Hi Gavin/List,
This 'rant' has been around for decades (OK, maybe singular, not 
plural), yet it has always been in the form of an open rant, and not a 
direction.

As a community we have always championed user groups etc, with a handful 
of people making the effort, and everyone benefiting.
This is the norm, and I see it no different (in manpower effort and 
'split') from energy required for past endeavors. (So no-one should be 
scared of getting involved).

I would like to suggest a way forward.
But this is strictly about getting Open Source to have a fair look-in, 
and not about the specifics of any tender or purchase.
My support is for leveling the playing field, and for exposing/wiping 
out badly constructed Bid specifications.

If my suggestion is bad/useless/whatever, I hope at least it does cause 
some debate that might turn into direction.

So,
Perhaps you could do some initial research, maybe applicable laws or 
policy guidance documents.
Perhaps listers working in government can point to some relevant 
documents on this matter.

Then find some legal-minded person to cost out a strategy, and of course 
make a 'feasibility of success' statement.
After that, we could have a worthwhile direction.

With a feasible direction we could try some crowd funding - or maybe 
even just have to make some representation (through SAGI??) to some 
government body with the power to change things.

I am still playing in the sand out here (Qatar), so cannot offer to 
help, but providing we have a direction and a crowd funding platform, I 
will pledge R1000 to further this cause.

Anyone else with some ideas?

Regards,
Zoltan


On 2019/09/11 14:43, Gavin Fleming wrote:
> If you have the time and energy, I invite you to help do something about this thinly veiled attempt at renewing the DRDLR ESRI ELA, when they are expressly not allowed to. They are supposed to go to open tender and consider alternatives and in particular, FOSS alternatives.
>
> This is one of many attempts by government entities to bypass official procurement procedures and simply renew their ESRI ELAs (Same goes for Oracle and other proprietary vendors). Most I’ve come across, like Drakenstein municipality and Ekurhuleni and Joburg Metros, are finding or have found means to do this without even tendering (for example by invoking sole supplier status or abusing the SITA ‘framework agreement’) . In this case DRDLR is going out to tender, but it is hardly open nor fair (just read it!)
>
> Then you get municipalities like Molemole illegally requesting named products in tenders and worse, giving the market minimal time to respond:
>
> "COR 8/1/1/09: Molemole Municipality is hereby inviting quotations from service providers to render a service of supply, delivery, installation and configuration of ArcGIS licenses. Specifications: 1. Level 2 Term License; 5 user Pack; 2. Level 1 Term License; 10 User Pack; 3. Service Credits; 1 Block (1000 Credits); 4. Map (1); Drone 2 Map for ArcGIS Term License. Please note that this quotation was published late.”
>
> Or Mandeni:
>
> "13/19/20: Quotations are hereby invited from suitably service providers to supply and deliver of Software Licenses as per the following specification: • ... • ESRI Software maintenance renewal End User No: 307570"
>
> SAGI, CSI, SITA, GISSA, Practitioners, Competition commission? Why are we allowing this anticompetitive and unaffordable practice to continue, especially in light of the current economic and political climate in SA?
>
> Gavin
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 

=============================================
Zoltan Szecsei GPrGISc 0031
Geograph (Pty) Ltd.
GIS and Photogrammetric Services

P.O. Box 7, Muizenberg 7950, South Africa.

Mobile: +27-83-6004028
Qatar:  +974 5083 2722     www.geograph.co.za
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