OPEN SOURCE AND CODE REUSE POLICY INTRODUCTION - 4984
Legal Authority
Government Code 11545 and 11546
Definitions
Reference SAM 4819.2
Policy
The California Department of Technology (CDT) is committed to improving the way state entities buy, build, and deliver information technology (IT) and software solutions to better support cost efficiency, effectiveness, and public experience with government programs. Enhanced reuse of custom-developed code across state government can have significant benefits for taxpayers and state entities, including decreasing the cost of application development and maintenance, increasing code quality and security, and promoting collaboration among the developer community.
To maintain previous investment(s) in IT software, state entities shall make code developed by the State of California broadly available for reuse across state government in a consistent manner. This policy is intended to avoid duplicative custom software investments and promote innovation and collaboration across state government while adequately addressing relevant statutory and policy requirements associated with State IT systems, including information security and risk management, privacy, legal issues, and other applicable requirements. The requirements outlined in this section apply to source code that is developed by the State of California, subject to the limited exceptions outlined in SAM Section 4819.2.