The government should not have an “open source first policy,” Homeland Security Department Chief Information Officer Richard Spires said Wednesday, but added officials should look to open source technology whenever possible.
Spires was speaking at a hearing on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, which industry groups have charged has an open source bias. The bill’s author, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has denied any bias and said the bill merely instructs agencies to consider open source software and tools as one possibility.