The joint letter from the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) and the Association of American Universities (AAU) provides a critical but constructive response to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) draft open source policy. These organizations, representing major U.S. research universities and their affiliates, express general support for enhancing public access to federally funded research and for mechanisms that encourage the sharing and reuse of custom software developed for the federal government. They agree that such practices can benefit society, accelerate scientific progress, and improve government efficiency if implemented thoughtfully.
However, their primary concerns focus on the possible negative consequences of the proposed policy's requirements. They argue that broad or inflexible mandates—such as requiring a fixed minimum percentage of custom code to be released as open source software (OSS) annually—could increase administrative burdens and diminish commercialization opportunities that foster innovation and the formation of new companies. The letter highlights that certain definitions within the policy are ambiguous and overly expansive, which could inadvertently harm university-driven economic development and restrict the ability to apply the most suitable licensing strategies for software dissemination. Additionally, the authors stress that policies appropriate for government procurement contracts should not be indiscriminately applied to federal grants and cooperative agreements, as these primarily support research rather than acquisitions for direct government benefit. The letter concludes by advocating for a flexible, case-by-case approach to the release of custom code, emphasizing voluntary participation and careful consideration of when open source is appropriate, in order to balance public benefit, innovation, and operational needs.
