In an article for European Voice Paul Meller of OFE lashes out at certain governments in the Council:
“However, national governments – in particular those from the EU’s largest countries, including France, Germany and the UK – do not. They want to introduce a layer of bureaucracy so cumbersome that it would deter even the most ardent tech-savvy civil servants from referencing one of these industry standards when they issue a call for tender”
Apparently some governments in the Council are unwilling to leave recognition of consortial ICT specifications to an EU committee driven by vendors and yield all powers concerning the recognition of consortial specifications for nothing in return. The better approach would be to raise the bar of course. Unfortunately the Commission proposal as well as the Comi report in parliament sets the bar for recognition very low. So low that it would be completely insignificant and all consortial specifications could be made to meet the criteria. The current approach translates into universal recognition. The article of Paul Meller is quite telling in that respect. He expects governments to limit themselves to an ‘advisory role’ in the selection committee and cast crocodile tears about the poor procurement officers. Let’s keep in mind that currently there is no official recognition of consortial ICT specifications at all but a lot of evaluation going on by public authorities, for instance SAGA in Germany. Governments should not yield their negotiation powers but use potential recognition as a leverage for better ICT specifications.
Sköne Oke 
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