0203: Budget and Procurement Plan 020301: Budget: 02030101: Plan: The annual procurement plan should be drafted aligned to section 010106 02030102: Funds: Every government organization should allocate adequate funds in its annual budget for ICT procurements and sufficient funds for the maintenance of existing equipment, systems and networks. The assistance for cost estimating and recommendation for such estimates can be obtained from ICTA. 02030103: Template: The template for the budget to be used by government organizations should be in accordance with the budget template of the Ministry of Finance and Planning. 020302: Specifications: 02030201 Specifications should address scalability. Flexible and extensible systems architecture is recommended. The terms used in the specifications should be technology neutral. 0204: Contractual Issues in procurement 020401 Hardware: 02040101: Government organizations when procuring hardware should ensure that appropriate warranties are obtained and also ensure that warranty terms are adequate to take care of defects. Maintenance terms for the hardware after the warranty period should also be negotiated in advance, and should include escalation costs and availability of spares for the life period of the equipment. 020402: Software: 02040201: Licensing: Government organizations should use only licensed software; such licenses can be for either proprietary software, or for open source software. Use of software without a valid license or making modifications and carrying out customisations to licensed software without adhering to the license conditions would be contrary to the Intellectual Property Act of 2003 and would result in legal penalties (both criminal and civil liability) 02040202: Warranties: When securing proprietary or commercial open source software, government organizations should ensure that the warranty terms would include a statement stating that the software would conform to the stated specifications and that the software would adhere to the required quality assurance standards. The warranty period should be negotiated in advance. 02040203: Maintenance: Support and maintenance of software which was under warranty beyond the warranty period as well as the level of service should be agreed upon in advance with the solutions provider. Procedures and terms for 13