The letter, jointly authored by the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) and the Association of American Universities (AAU), provides a detailed response to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Draft Open Source Policy. Both COGR and AAU support the principle of providing public access to and preservation of federally funded research outcomes, recognizing the significant national benefits that arise from making such research widely accessible. They also express support for improving access to custom software developed for the federal government, provided such policies do not unduly compromise research commercialization or unduly increase administrative burdens.
However, the organizations articulate several concerns regarding the draft policy. They argue that certain provisions—such as a broad definition of “custom code,” the requirement for unlimited rights to custom source code without full regard to existing federal acquisition regulations, and a mandate for the release of a minimum percentage of code as open source software (OSS)—may inadvertently increase administrative complexity and potentially inhibit the formation of new technology ventures derived from university research. The letter emphasizes that mandatory OSS release could have negative repercussions on innovation, basic research, and technology transfer, especially in the university context where research is not always directly intended for federal acquisition. COGR and AAU recommend a flexible, case-by-case approach that allows voluntary release of code and adaptation of licensing models, rather than blanket mandates. They assert that existing regulations already provide for effective internal government code sharing and that OSS should not be the default requirement for all custom code developed with government funds. The letter concludes by advocating for policy adjustments that preserve innovation incentives and respect the diversity of research outputs and contexts.
