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EC promotes ''against lock-in'' approach on ITS standards

According to the European Commission (EC), open standards for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) would save the public sector €1 billion a year US$1.5 billion a year, citing Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) as one of the standards being developed in the transport domain. Launched in 1997, the UTMC programme was the UK Department for Transport (DfT) main initiative for the development of a more open approach to ITS in urban areas. UTMC systems are designed to allow the different application
August 2, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
According to the 1690 European Commission (EC), open standards for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) would save the public sector €1 billion a year US$1.5 billion a year, citing 3549 Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) as one of the standards being developed in the transport domain.

Launched in 1997, the UTMC programme was the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) main initiative for the development of a more open approach to ITS in urban areas.  UTMC systems are designed to allow the different applications used within modern traffic management systems to communicate and share information with each other. Thereby a more robust and intelligent system can be used to meet current and future management requirements.

At the end of June 2013, the EC released a new policy to help public authorities avoid dependence on a single ICT supplier, together with a Guide for the procurement of standards-based ICT — Elements of Good Practice, which lists UTMC in the sources of information appendix.

The EC states that following the recommendations in this new "against lock-in" approach could save the EU's public sector more than US$1.5 billion a year. For example, open tendering procedures can attract increased numbers of bidders with better value bids (doubling the number of bidders typically lowers contract size by 9 per cent).

The full story and a copy of the guide, aimed at officials responsible for planning and purchasing ICT systems and services for public authorities, can be found on the EC %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal webpage http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-standards false http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-standards false false%>.

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