OSSI Membership Meeting and Program Review

Meeting Date:       Thursday, 15 July 2010

Location:               Georgia Tech Research Institute - Washington, DC offices

1700 North Moore Street, Suite 1910, Arlington, VA

Meeting Time:       1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

RSVP by:              Thursday, 01 July 2010

The Open Source Software Institute will host a Member's meeting on Thursday, July 15, 2010 from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm in Washington, DC. The purpose of the meeting is to brief our membership on current and pending projects and activities.

The meeting will be held at the Washington, DC offices of  Georgia Tech Research Institute located at 1700 North Moore Street, Suite 1910 in Arlington, VA. The building is directly above the Rosslyn Metro Station. Seating is very limited so we ask that you RSVP by July 1, 2010.

Topics to be discussed at the meeting will include:

Open Technology Research Consortium (OTRC)

The Consortium consists of representatives from leading research institutions and non-profit open source organizations.

Charter OTRC members include:

• Georgia Tech Research Institute

• University of Texas at Austin's Center for Strategic Analysis

• Oregon State University's Open Software Lab

• The University of Southern Mississippi

• Mississippi University for Women

• Open Information Security Foundation

• Open Source Software Institute

The mission of the Consortium is to facilitate the continued adoption and implementation of open technology solutions within US Government and public sector entities for the benefit of the general public, the Open Technology Community, Information Technology industry and Consortium members.

To encourage this adoption, the Consortium shall collectively seek projects opportunities which have strategic and tactical significance in accomplishing this stated goal. These projects will be reviewed by the Executive Board which will recommend appropriate opportunities to the Consortium membership for adoption and implementation.

As a primary research organization, the Consortium shall conduct theoretical and applied research and development activities. The Consortium shall not be prohibited from engaging in implementation or support activities, but shall encourage the participation of private or corporate partners to promote technology transfer and extended program development and implementation services.

The following programs have been adopted by the Consortium and will be implemented through the collective organizational body.

Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST) program

The Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST) program is sponsored by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate and is designed to help federal, state and local government agencies realize technical, security and economic benefits made available through open source and open technology solutions. To facilitate the adoption of Open Technology Solutions, the HOST program addresses issues of IT governance, acquisition and deployment policy, Information Assurance (IA) evaluation and security, collaborative development and availability of OTS resources.

The HOST program was launched in 2009 with funding of approximately $1.5 million. Upon completion of the first year's activities, DHS instructed the Consortium to develop a five year implementation plan with a preliminary budget of approximately $10 million. The program's extended proposal has been accepted and is scheduled to re-launch in September 2010.

Presenter include:

• Dr. Douglas Maughan, HOST Program Manager, Cyber Security R&D Center, DHS Science and Technology Directorate

• Joshua L. Davis, Georgia Tech Research Institute, HOST Program Principal Investigator

• Deb Bryant, Oregon State University, Open Source Lab, HOST team member

• John M. Weathersby, OSSI, HOST Program Associate PI

Defense Information Systems Agency, Open Source Corporate Management Information System (OSCMIS)

In 2008, DISA and OSSI entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to take the internally (DoD) developed CMIS program and license it under and appropriate open source license and then develop a strategy and methodology and to make the open source version available to public and private sector entities. In 2009, the OSCMIS project was recognized by Government Computer News as one of the Government's “11 Great Government IT Projects.”

During 2009 and 2010, the new Consortium has worked closely with DISA to release several updated versions of the OSCMIS program within various DoD environments. During this meeting, the technical development team, led by GTRI, will discuss the pending release of a “Community and Commercial Version” of the OSCMIS program. During the meeting, discussion will focus on the technical aspects and modifications of the government and community versions and the strategic release plan and opportunities for Consortium members to implement, distribute and support the system to government and non-government entities.

Presenters will include:

• Richard Nelson, OSCMIS Program Manager, Defense Information Systems Agency

• Jeff Smart, Technical Lead, Georgia Tech Research Institute

• John M. Weathersby, OSSI

As mentioned, this meeting is limited to the members and invited guest of OSSI. We hope to inform you of existing activities and invite your potential participation with these and other efforts. Open source is quickly becoming a core element in the IT fabric which makes up government technology systems. We wish to work together to increase the concept of open source adoption and encourage and facilitate the BUSINESS of open source adoption throughout all levels of Federal, state and local government entities.

Please let me know if you will be able to attend this meeting. You may contact me via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call our office at 202.683.7524.

We look forward to seeing you there.

John M. Weathersby, Executive Director

Open Source Software Institute