Government departments round the world are collaborating to produce a common Open Systems Interconnection procurement specification. The UK Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency has already completed a profile called Gosip which is compatible with the US equivalent and has it laid on the table as a building block for discussion. France, West Germany and the UK are to work especially closely with the aim of completing the core of a European Procurement handbook by the second quarter of next year. Project co-ordinator at the UK agency Norman Lamb says that the core will comprise specifications for wide area networks, X25 packet networks and message handling.
