Vendor sues NASA over open source project

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s plans to transition to a content management system with open source architecture are on hold for a little while. The agency awarded a $40 million blanket purchase agreement in mid-December to Rockville, Md.-based InfoZen to replace the agency’s existing CMS – operated for several years by eTouch Federal Systems LLC – with open source architecture to run its 140 websites and 1,600 web assets and applications.

But that contract has come under protest from eTouch Federal Systems LLC, which filed a formal bid protest on Dec. 28 against NASA’s new deal with InfoZen. The contract is now under review by the Government Accountability Office with an expected resolution by April 8, according to a NASA official...

Bid protest aside, the contract with InfoZen appeared to fulfill a goal outlined in NASA’s Open Government Plan, which called for the creation of a single infrastructure to support the agency’s websites and applications, giving preference for open-source technology. The agency’s Open Government Plan was a direct result of the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative...