&gt; They largely circumvent a lot of the process with help from policy makers at the highest levels.<p>&gt; Even then, I&#x27;m pretty sure they don&#x27;t offer hosting&#x2F;authorizing deployments from party sources. So they essentially have a monopoly on the ability to use OSS freely for bulding government websites.<p>That&#x27;s not quite the case. Many agencies use a ton of OSS to build websites and other services.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;cfpb&#x2F;source-code-policy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;cfpb&#x2F;source-code-policy</a>
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;uscensusbureau&#x2F;open-source-policy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;uscensusbureau&#x2F;open-source-policy</a>
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;18F&#x2F;open-source-policy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;18F&#x2F;open-source-policy</a><p>The policy links above refer to those teams releasing their own code as open source, but you will find huge amounts of outside open source code being used there, and in many other agencies.<p>The Department of Defense is famous for (in 2003!) making sure their department knew that open source software was A-okay to use, and people refer to their amazing FAQ all the time:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dodcio.defense.gov&#x2F;OpenSourceSoftwareFAQ.aspx" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dodcio.defense.gov&#x2F;OpenSourceSoftwareFAQ.aspx</a><p>(I&#x27;m an 18F employee.)