Why doesn't the Brazilian government give preference to national software?

By Gérson Schmitt, Chairman of the Board of ABES and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Paradigma Business Solutions

Electronic procurement has consolidated itself as an excellent instrument of governance, transparency and economy for public administration in Brazil. Present in the country since the late 1990s, this instrument generated the development of large reference projects and placed Brazil, in 2002, as the leader in Latin America and in the 18th position of the UN world ranking in terms of e-government.

It was during this period, when the internet began to become an essential channel for communication, provision of services and negotiation, that the population began to have access to services that would have been impossible before, such as electronic voting, access to electronic forms for Tax Returns. and integration of the Unified Health System (SUS) database. This movement also brought the possibility of growth of Brazilian software and IT services companies and also of carrying out international projects of e-gov.

Of all the innovations of that period, electronic purchases in the public sector, which began with the launch of the BEC- Bolsa Eletrônica de São Paulo, in 2000, followed by countless other public procurement portals that followed it, brought significant gains, especially through the use of the trading floor. regulated electronics in 2002.

Despite the great evolution in this segment, there are still important adjustments to be made in legislation and operating models. Distortions such as the performance of the Banco do Brasil portal, Licitações-e, which limits the access of suppliers to public procurement processes only to those who are their account holders - also demanding the payment of service fees, harming, in particular, the MPE (micro and small companies) – are a flagrant disregard for current legislation, already denounced by the main entities representing the IT sector, during a public event promoted by the TCU, in 2012.

investments in e-gov of the first years of the turn of the millennium did not have the same intensity during that decade or the following one, when the country started to give priority to free software and took the focus away from innovation and the strengthening of national software. This disastrous strategic action prevented the country from following the evolution of technology to e-gov, taking Brazil to the decadent 59th position in the last world ranking of e-gov of the UN, released in 2014, with data from 2012. This situation has also contributed to the country's plummeting in global competitiveness indicators.

The wrong guidelines, which keep the country in a scenario dissonant with the digital economic evolution, remove or delay the possibility of being more competitive and expanding the development of the Brazilian Software and Services Industry (IBSS). Much of the deterioration in this scenario can be explained by the two main policies or models that detract from the potential for innovation and productivity gains that the IT sector can bring to the country: the government prioritizes free software, failing to decisively support the national software and assumes the role of biggest competitor and employer in the sector, with large teams in state-owned companies, which is also happening in state governments. According to the ABEP (Brazilian Association of State ICT Entities) website, the 27 federative entities in the country have large IT companies.

The incentive to use free software, with open codes, to the detriment of the development of national software, has been neglecting thousands of good Brazilian solutions for e-gov that could generate success stories in Brazil and exports. Even with all the government support since 2002, the free software segment represents only something around 6% in serving the Brazilian software market.

Another action that generates negative impacts on the development of the national technology market for e-gov it is in the government's preference for the purchase of services over software as a solution. This choice generates expensive, long-lasting and high-risk implementations, often with low quality and without an evolution plan. It still encourages or fosters a model that “commodifies” a high-tech sector. This model may be good for India, but for Brazil, which lacks more than 100,000 skilled IT professionals and standard software platforms world class, has been generating growing deficits in the trade balance that already exceed USD 7 billion per year.

We've still seen the government supporting targeted and discriminatory programs like the Public Software Portal, which only accepts free software registration. This action is aggravated by the fact that the government acts as a broker which presents an electronic catalog with offers for e-gov, creating a sales channel for a few privileged companies, further harming national e-gov software companies with protected intellectual property. Who is interested in this limitation of competition?

All this movement considered harmful to the Brazilian Software and Services Industry, associated with the mistaken focus and promotion of the export of services such as commodities, marketed at the best man/hour cost, strengthening the process of “Brazil’s technological colonization”, place the country far below developed and emerging countries in world indicators of e-gov and ICT with only supporting role.
To reverse this scenario, the government would need to assess its preference for purchasing services and free software to prioritize the promotion of qualified national software, entrusting it with the role of generating innovations in e-gov and IT, respecting the intellectual property of companies. These changes would bring about a new period of evolution of services and relationships with citizens and organizations - a model with which Brazil gained global visibility in the early years of the new century, when there was an environment and moment of enthusiasm with the vanguard in e-gov more and more distant.

* Gérson Schmitt contributed to the book “COMPRAS PÚBLICAS BRASIL”, by the author Florência Ferrer, released in May/2015 during the VIII CONSAD CONGRESS ON PUBLIC MANAGEMENT, in Brasília.