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The “Free Software and digital commons” action plan has been designed by the Ministry of Public Transformation and Civil Service after the publication of the Prime Minister’s data circular n°6264/SG of April 27, 2021, and aims to support the State’s digital transformation.

This action plan is led by a new Free Software Unit, set up within the Etalab department of the Inter-ministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs - "direction du numérique" in French - hereafter "DINUM".

Its objectives are to increase awareness and use of free/Libre Software and digital commons in the administration, to develop and support the release and publication of its source codes, and to use free software to strengthen the attractiveness of the State as an employer of digital talents, in particular by enhancing the value of public contributions to the projects and communities concerned.

The actions are jointly led by the Free Software Unit, with the support of the LABEL and TALENTS missions of the TECH.GOUV program. Other initiatives led by DINUM may also occasionally contribute (notably the BETA and PILOT missions). The plan and the progress of its implementation will be published on communs.numerique.gouv.fr.

Better understanding, use and design of free/libre software and digital commons #

1. Reference Free and open source solutions (in the GouvTech catalog).
2. Reference free/libre Software and digital commons significantly used by the administration and develop the exchange of internal expertise (in the inter-ministerial base of free/libre software - SILL), including these actions:
   • Highlight significantly used free and open source libraries;
   • Reuse source code developed by other administrations;
   • Promote and support the administration’s contribution to free/libre software and the digital commons it uses;
   • Monitor the digital software commons to detect opportunities to use and contribute to them, particularly for issues of sovereignty.
3. Facilitate access to the inter-ministerial market for free/libre software support.
4. Support administrations in the creation of digital commons for the conduct of public policies.

Develop and support the opening and release of source codes #

1. Support administrations in opening their source codes. Help administrations mobilize their ecosystems around published source code.
2. Develop the code.gouv.fr platform:
   • Reference the codes and libraries published by administrations.
   • Promote source codes with a high potential for reuse; build an inventory of unpublished source codes that could be reused.
   • Highlight the administration's contributions to the open source software ecosystem (solutions and libraries) and the digital commons.
3. Animate the community of inter-ministerial relays on the subject of the publication of source codes; maintain the guides for software openness; support useful partnerships for software openness.

Rely on free and open source software and the digital commons to strengthen the attractiveness of the State as an employer for digital talent #

1. Animate the BlueHats information and expertise exchange network; publish its newsletter.
2. Promote agents and researchers who contribute to free/libre software or digital commons; organize an annual "free and open source sprint" event to federate.
3. Attract experts in free/libre software, open source, and the digital commons to the administration in connection with the other actions of the TALENTS mission, in particular by listing them in the digital talent pool.