Dear Chief Technology Officer,
Cities around the world are leaving New York City behind in their adoption of open source software; they are spending their money more efficiently while building more sustainable and secure solutions.
Every June, the United Nations convenes UN Open Source Week at its Headquarters, right here in NYC. It gathers more than 2,600 participants from over 120 countries: the governments, institutions and builders organizing the world’s transition to open source. Our city provides the stage for this movement, is home to the critical technical prowess that would make it a leader on the global stage, but has yet to actually join in.
Government programs run on software, currently provided by vendors. When the city can’t improve the software, it can’t improve the programs — every new idea becomes a change order, priced by the only vendor who can implement it. A city that knows its open source options can credibly walk away from a vendor, granting it a far better negotiating position.
- At present, the city rents proprietary software at enormous scale. Two citywide IT purchasing contracts are being put in place right now — $1.2 billion with SHI and $800 million with CDW — and the Comptroller found nearly $4 billion in master-agreement spending whose records reveal almost nothing about what was bought, or if it was a secure and successful solution.
- By contrast, open code can be audited by inspection, extending the trust the city already builds through its Vulnerability Disclosure Program from policy to proof.
- NYC has one of the most educated technical workforces on earth; open work that is public and citable creates an avenue for continuous improvement.
- Software adopted or built openly can serve all 130-plus city agencies at no additional licensing cost. The first agency solves the problem, every other agency inherits the solution.
New York already lives by this instinct for data: the Open Data Law has made publication the default since 2012. The step before you extends the same standard to code.
8 Open Source Principles
The UN has formally backed this movement through the creation of its principles. Endorsed in March 2025 by seventeen organizations, from the Open Source Initiative to the Linux Foundation, they are:
- Open by default — open source as the standard approach for projects.
- Contribute back — active participation in the open source ecosystem.
- Secure by design — security as a priority in all software projects.
- Foster inclusive participation and community building — inclusive participation and community building.
- Design for reusability — interoperable across platforms and contexts.
- Provide documentation — thorough documentation for end users.
- RISE (recognize, incentivize, support and empower) — recognize, incentivize, support, and empower communities.
- Sustain and scale — solutions that meet evolving needs over time.
Take Action
We respectfully call on the Office of Technology & Innovation to:
- Endorse the UN Open Source Principles, publicly and by name.
- Establish an Open Source Program Office (OSPO) to facilitate adoption across city government — coordinating what the city uses, what it publishes, how it contributes back, and how it stays secure doing so.
- Evaluate an open source alternative in every city technology contract, so no proprietary license is signed or renewed without first asking whether an open solution would serve New Yorkers better.
The tools to achieve these goals exist, and peer governments run them today. To fulfill their potential and improve NYC’s technology strategy, they need government backing.
Respectfully, the undersigned