Two parliament members of the Italian Democratic Party want Italy's public bodies to favour free software. By 2012 all IT systems should be based on such software, MPs Vincenzo Vita and Luigi Vimercati proposed in a bill last month.

Public administrations should use free software in order to rationalise public spending and encourage reuse and interoperability, the two write in their bill titled 'Network neutrality, free software and society'. "All IT solutions should be based on open protocols and formats."

In order to achieve this goal, the MPs next propose that the government should make their databases interoperable and should remove obstacles for open source applications when selecting software. "In public tenders, extra points should be awarded for solutions based on free software and open standards."

The two also want public funding for research and development projects for this type of software in schools, universities and companies that develop ICT solutions for public bodies. The fund should be organised by the ministry of Public Administration and Innovation.

The MPs discussed their bill last Thursday at a public meeting they organised in the Italian Parliament. According to the Italian daily newspaper Unita, MP Vita criticised a recent decision by the minister for Public Administration, Renato Brunetta, to renew a software licence contract with Microsoft: "Using open source would result in significant savings."

The MPs have also published their bill on their website 'A law for the Net', where they invite those interested in the topics of their bill to comment on it.

When the bill will be discussed or voted on by Italy's parliament, is not known. MP Vita did not yet respond to e-mailed questions.

More information:

Network neutrality, free software and society (in Italian)

Unita news item (in Italian)