Fedict signs escrow agreement with Escrow Europe NV to secure use of software

Fedict, The Belgian Federal State Service for Information and Communication Technology, has signed an agreement with Escrow Europe NV to secure, in all circumstances, the use of the software it utilises to deliver e-Gov services.

Escrow Europe NV, based in Belgium , acts as a neutral, independent third party that, in certain circumstances, will hand over the latest version of licensed software held in escrow to the user so that the use of the software is guaranteed.

 

Software suppliers can stop supporting their products, by design or by default. For example, in most of the cases when software houses merge or are taken over, the product portfolio is streamlined. The result is that some products are no longer adequately supported.

 

"Up to now, escrow agreements were mostly part of the contract signed with the suppliers. But practice showed that the clauses dealing with escrow were very loosely or incompletely executed due to lack of expertise or follow-up," says Mr. Volon, Managing Director Services at Fedict.

 

"Therefore, Fedict will see that their software suppliers deposit their source code with a neutral and independent third party. With regard to this, Fedict has signed a frame agreement with Escrow Europe."

 

"There is a legal and technical aspect to a good quality escrow agreement. It is only when both aspects are fulfilled that the escrow agreement is usable and effective," says Mr. Maurice Gruyaert, Director of Escrow Europe. Escrow Europe is the company acting as the intermediary between the software supplier and the end user.

 

The 'right to use' has to be legally regulated. Under which circumstances is the escrow agent authorised to release the deposit to the end user? And what is the end user allowed to do with the deposit? All of this has to be described in detail in the escrow agreement.

The deposited source code itself must technically be useful: the data must be readable, the material must be complete as contractually defined, the deposit must be virus free and, finally, it must be well documented so that the system can be re-built.

 

Furthermore, Mr. Gruyaert points out that software is dynamic, constantly adapted and improved. Evidence of this is the multiple upgrades released every year. Escrow Europe makes sure that the deposit is updated at least once a year.

 

On the other hand, simply because the source code "is on deposit", doesn't mean that the code will be released in an ad hoc fashion. It is only when the software supplier is no longer able to provide normal support that the source code is released. "Given those circumstances, it is normal that the business critical continuity of the end user prevails," concludes Mr. Gruyaert.

 

Mr. Volon confirms that, in the future, all software suppliers to the Federal Government will have to comply with the escrow service as rendered by Escrow Europe. The aim is to guarantee the continuity of its services.

 

With Escrow Europe, Fedict hopes to obtain the best contractual procedures. This will allow Fedict to play a supporting role and place its experience at the disposal of the other Federal State Services. For the moment, some fifteen large software suppliers and a restricted number of smaller ones write specific software for Fedict.

 

The agreement Fedict has with Escrow Europe is, according to Mr. Volon, the logical consequence of the decision taken by the government to speed up the use of information technology to improve their services to, and dialog with, the public. Also, the new principles of corporate governance with increased accountability of the government's policy convinced Fedict of the necessity to affirm a balanced and guaranteed escrow arrangement.

 

Fedict's software applications, as well as those developed by Fedict for other Federal Government Services, are today ultimately essential applications whose use in the e-Gov services must be guaranteed in all circumstances. Continuity of e-Gov services to citizens, civil servants and enterprises is very important. The escrow service is just one of the measures taken within a global framework to ensure continuity of these IT services.

 

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For more information, please contact:

Escrow Europe NV
Maurice Gruyaert
General Manager
Tel: +32 (0)2 269.81.33
e-mail: maurice.gruyaert@be.escroweurope.com