An Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is a department of subject-matter experts involved in free and open source software within an organization, such as a company, university, or government agency. This team may oversee the implementation and use of open standards and digital public goods. It often includes staff with expertise in related legal compliance and risk management issues. OSPOs can support culture change in an organization toward using or developing more open source software.
Companies that have OSPOs include Yahoo!, Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg L.P., Comcast, and Porsche. Universities with OSPOs include Trinity College Dublin, the University of Vermont, and Johns Hopkins University. CERN launched its OSPO in 2023. The U.S. federal government agency Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has also established an OSPO to help them improve organizational effectiveness.
The Linux Foundation has projects that support people developing or maintaining OSPOs, TODO Group and Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software (CHAOSS). There is also an OSPO community for those working in university and research institution OSPOs, called CURIOSS.
The tasks of an OSPO include business oriented goals:
OSPOs also handle technical and legal compliance issues, such as: