Is open source software commercial software? Is it COTS?
Open source software that has at least one non-governmental use, and has been or is available to the public, is commercial software. If it is already available to the public and is used unchanged, it is usually COTS. U.S. law governing federal procurement (U.S. Code Title 41, Chapter 7, Section 403) defines “commercial item” as including “Any item, other than real property, that is of a type customarily used by the general public or by non-governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes (i.e., it has some non-government use), and (i) Has been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; or (ii) Has been offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public …”. Thus, as long as the software has at least one non-governmental use, software released (or offered for release) to the public is a commercial item for procurement purposes. Similarly, U.S. Code Title 41, Chapter 7, Section 431 defines the term “Commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) item”; softw
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- Is open source software commercial software? Is it COTS?
