The story behind shutting down the addition of code to the VA Code In Flight web site

[Nancy Anthracite]

I asked Theresa Gainsburg for an explanation as I was trying to understand what happened. I had asked because I was concerned something related to this decision might block the release of code through a FOIA request. She sent back a very nice explanation.

 

Good morning Dr. Anthracite,

 

As you know, the Code Sharing program was terminated effective August 31, 2021. The Code in Flight (CIF) program was established in 2012 to be a "good neighbor" in the open source community and share a preview of what VA was working on as it was being developed. In August 2016, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published the Federal Source Code Policy (Memorandum M-16-21), which required that federal agencies share new custom-developed code they create or procure for broad reuse across the federal government. The policy also required agencies to release at least twenty percent of new custom-developed code to the public as open source software under a three-year pilot program.

 

After the expiration of the pilot program, no new direction was issued by OMB regarding code sharing. The federal government's interest in code sharing has decayed with time; GSA funding for Code.gov and support from the current administration was lost, and staff supporting the Federal Source Code Policy and Code.gov were assigned to other initiatives. The Code.gov reporting website has migrated to a static state and the JSON file submissions for twenty percent of an agency's custom code inventory is no longer being harvested by GSA. These actions by GSA and diminished VA support and funding for a new contract drove the termination of the Code Sharing Service program..

 

I would agree that a FOIA release would be the proper way to request code.

 

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Nancy Anthracite