An Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is a department formed by subject-matter experts involved in free and open software. This team may also oversee the operation of open standards and digital public goods. It often includes an understanding of legal compliance issues and risk management, but is not limited to this. OSPOs can also play a role in culture change within an organization.
Companies that have OSPOs include Yahoo!, [1] Goldman Sachs, [2] Bloomberg L.P., Comcast, and Porsche. [3] Universities with OSPOs include Trinity College Dublin, [4] the University of Vermont, [5] and Johns Hopkins University. [6] The U.S. federal government agency Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has also established an OSPO to help them improve organizational effectiveness. [7] [8]
The Linux Foundation has projects that support people developing or maintaining OSPOs, TODO Group and Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software (CHAOSS). [9] There is also an OSPO community for those working in university and research institution OSPOs, called CURIOSS. [10]
The tasks of an OSPO include business oriented goals:
OSPOs also handle technical and legal compliance issues, such as: