Translation of the article published in 'BOLETIC' N. 63, 2012. Based on the provisions of the eGovernment Law 11/2007 and the National Interoperability Framework (Royal Decree 4/2010), plus the support of European Union policies, it is possible to go ahead with the reuse of applications, either as products or as services, and of other information assets, with a goal of greater efficiency and effectiveness. There are certain steps that can be pointed out.

1. Reusing assets in the Administration. A strategy to be developed.1
Based on the provisions of the eGovernment Law 11/2007 and the National
Interoperability Framework (Royal Decree 4/2010), plus the support of European
Union policies, it is possible to go ahead with the reuse of applications, either as
products or as services, and of other information assets, with a goal of greater
efficiency and effectiveness. There are certain steps that can be pointed out.
By Miguel A. Amutio
The reuse offers an interesting potential for improving effectiveness and efficiency, while it fosters
an economy based on knowledge, participation, innovation and competitiveness by contributing to
the development of an ICT ecosystem which allows cooperation between the public and private
sector with a view to improve services provided by public administrations.
This applies to reuse of different assets such as applications, understood either as a product or as
service, services, public sector information and other information assets. Reuse has greater
significance than the one strictly linked to cost savings; it is also an expression of openness,
transparency, participation and collaboration, notions that make up the concept of open government.
The European Union has insisted over time through various community acts and documents on how
the reuse, together with share and collaborate, contributes to innovation, interoperability, efficiency
and effectiveness.
Thus, the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 considers the reuse as a concept linked to the
implementation of innovative technologies, interoperability and effectiveness efficiency. It
promotes the reuse of solutions, existing infrastructures and in particular the results of the Large
Scale Pilots. Moreover, the specific area of the reuse of public sector information becomes a
reference in the light of the advances in the development of the legal framework, tools,
communities of interest, products, as well as the estimations of the business volume generated.
Moreover, the European Interoperability Framework [1] refers repeatedly throughout the text to the
reuse of applications, services, specifications, data models and sources of administrative
information ('base registries'). In particular, the tenth principle recognizes that reuse is a key concept
for the efficient development of public services, while in the seventh recommendation "urges public
administrations, when implementing European public services, to reuse and share solutions, and to
cooperate in developing joint solutions". Also the European Interoperability Strategy refers to the
reuse of services, infrastructures and components and includes a cluster of measures to support
communities of interest and integration of collaboration platforms.
In practice, JOINUP [2] is the collaboration platform deployed by the European Commission, with
funds from the ISA. JOINUP previous integrates tools for collaboration in open source software
(OSOR.EU) and semantic assets (SEMIC.EU).
1
Translation of the article published in 'BOLETIC' N. 63, 2012

2. Figure 1. JOINUP, the collaboration platform deployed by the European
Commission
Reuse in the eGovernment Law 11/2007
The eGovernment Law 11/2007 had a direct impact on reuse by providing in Article 45 that the
government will make available to any administration, without compensation and without
agreement, those applications in which they hold the copyright. Article 46 deals with operational
tools that facilitate this by establishing that the government will maintain directories for free reuse
of applications in accordance with the stipulations of Royal Decree 4/2010 (National
Interoperability Framework).
Subsequently, the National Interoperability Framework devotes a chapter to the reusability of
applications of public administrations, associated documentation and other information objects.
First, Article 16 provides the licensing conditions applicable to any software being declared open
source software.
Secondly, Article 17 establishes conditions for directories that have free applications for reuse; they
will be linked with equivalent instruments. This article establishes a duty to consider the available
solutions that satisfy all or part of the requirements of new systems or services or the improvement
and updating of already implanted. It also states that public administrations will seek the release of
source code of computer applications in those directories to promote the activities of sharing, reuse
and collaborate for the benefit of improved efficiency and effectiveness.
In the field of Administration of Justice, the Law 18/2011 follows a similar path, because this law
provides that applications can be shared without consideration and without agreement. This law also
encourages the reuse of systems, services, infrastructures and existing applications, and repositories
of free software applications for reuse.
The Center for Technology Transfer (CTT) [3] is a tool for collaboration. Provided in Article 46 of
Law 11/2007 and deployed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, is designed to
promote the reuse of solutions by public administrations. The CTT is linked to JOINUP and it is
linked too to forges of other public administrations of Spain (Extremadura, Andalusia, Catalonia),
and collaborates with CENATIC [4].

3. Figure 2. Center for Technology Transfer (CTT)
Best practices and tools for share, reuse and collaborate
Based on this foundation, it is possible to develop the practice of reuse applications, either as
products or as network services and other information assets, with the goal of reaching greater
efficiency and effectiveness and also reaching a better focus on processes that add value to public
governance. There are certain steps that can be given:
• Establish a culture of sharing, reuse and collaborate, as common practice.
• Consolidate the principle of openness and advance in the reuse of assets.
• Provide common guidelines to facilitate the acquisition, development, maintenance,
development, configuration, operation and release of any application source code in a
condition suitable for reuse as a product or as a network service, including aspects of
intellectual property rights and generic clauses applied in technical requirements; together
with more specific guidance necessary to facilitate operational aspects.
• Reinforce the role of the Technology Transfer Center, and its relationship to other equivalent
instruments in our country or in the European Union, as a focal point for locating reusable
applications, along with associated documentation, either for reuse as a product or as a
service through the network. In both cases appropriate licensing conditions will be applied,
having as main reference the European Union Public License (EUPL), or other equivalent
ones, together with licenses like Creative Commons CC-By-SA, version 3.0 or later, for
documentation.
• Disseminate best practices and success stories, through the Technology Transfer Centre.
Conclusions
The practice of reuse opens the opportunity for new paradigms in the development and use of ICT
assets such as government applications, services or semantic assets. The conceptual framework of
reusing already established and supported. Best practices are well known and possible uncertainties
are disappearing, while technology and collaboration platforms are reaching a level of maturity. It's
in the hands of ICT professionals to work together to develop concrete and practical aspects of
reuse and make it something more common than exceptional.
References
[1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0744:FIN:EN:PDF
[2] http://joinup.ec.europa.eu

4. [3] http://administracionelectronica.gob.es/?
_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=P803124061272300995675&langPae=es
[4] http://www.cenatic.es