us government software
a thing I think folks outside of government may not be aware of is that it's not a given that the federal government can develop technology services that can be provided, for fee or for free, to non-federal agencies (eg gov in states, tribes, territories, local).
why? good question! it's because the US loves private industry, and has written into its guidance that the US federal government should not offer services the private sector could.
links in next post -
us government software
here is, I believe, the latest guidance around this:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Circular-097.pdf
and in it a quote from Section 302 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968, which still provides the foundation today:
"The Director's rules and regulations shall be consistent with, and in furtherance of, the Government's policy of relying on the private enterprise system to provide those services which are reasonably and expeditiously available through ordinary business channels."
us government software
there's legislation coming down the line to hopefully change this. aaron snow wrote a good blog post about this more in-depth as it relates to both the US and Canada here: https://aaronsnow.net/2022/05/09/sharing-federal-digital-services-with-other-layers-of-government.html. recommend checking it out if you're interested!
us government software
@zee they do. this is literally just relevant for federal agencies providing services to other non-fed government agencies. I think basically anything non gov is private, including nonprofits. coops selling to government is something I’m personally very interested in, and think there might be aligned incentives for! sorry for jargon
us government software
@christa nah that makes sense! I don't know if it's jargon so much as "potential nuance"
us government software
@zee when I typed “aligned incentives” into the fediverse a bit of my soul left my body but then I pressed toot
us government software
@christa hahaha, that's why I have @Zee@social.coop! for my "capitalism survival discussion" account :X.
us government software
Interesting thread @christa. Thank you for posting it! Fingers crossed that some fragmentation can be alleviated!
us government software
@christa I wonder if cooperatives count as private enterprises... Ugh I don't want to do government sales but I suppose it's better than profit-maximizing entities doing it :/