This document introduces the Information Sharing Networks - Framework Agreement.
The Framework Agreement was initially created to support the Border Trade Demonstrator project where a number of businesses and government agencies are working together to share data as part of a pilot exercise run by the UK Cabinet Office.
The Framework Agreement is a multi-party sharing instrument that allows information to be shared between groups of public and private bodies with a shared interest or objective. It reduces the reliance on traditional point-to-point agreements between individual actors.
The agreement may be used and reused for commercial and non-commercial purposes without charge under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Traditionally the data sharing agreements required to enable exchange of data between businesses and government are bilateral. These point-to-point sharing agreements limit the ability of new parties, with similar objectives, to access information without additional information sharing governance being put in place.
The Framework Agreement makes it easier for organisations to cooperate by minimising the paperwork needed when a new information sharing requirement is identified. This type of agreement is particularly suited to experimental or proof of concept projects where new information requirements are likely to be discovered during the testing process, or where the group of participants are likely to vary over time.
Once an information sharing network is established new participants can use the network (with the permission of the existing members), and access the information shared without the need to reestablish the rules for cooperation, data governance and so on.
Work done by the Cabinet Office as part of the Ecosystem of Trust project highlighted the technology challenges created when there is a need to exchange new data between business and government. Historically this has involved the costly and time-consuming work of creating bespoke data pipelines or adapting existing government systems to accept new data.
The Framework Agreement is compatible with novel approaches to data sharing that focus on minimising the amount of data shared through the use of standards-based, light-weight, simple messages that:
- Can be delivered as soon as a corresponding event occurs in the originating business process, avoiding issues caused from late or stale data
- Can move in any direction, creating the potential for feedback loops that are difficult to create with the traditional declaration-based approaches
- Permit participants to make their own minds up on whether and how to use them, allowing for organic adoption of new services
During the Border Trade Demonstrator project the Cabinet Office created a proof-of-concept implementation for a new type of infrastructure of this type, called Signals. The reference implementation is also available free for use under an MIT open source licence.
The Framework Agreement comprises:
- a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
- a Network Establishment Agreement (NEA)
The MOU is signed by organisations wishing to cooperate in order to improve information sharing. It establishes the roles and responsibilities for members, and the principles for cooperation between the participating organisations.
The cooperating organisations participate in one or more Information Sharing Networks, or ISNs (an ISN is the technical infrastructure used to exchange data between the participants).
The cooperating organisations - known as the ISN Consortium - are responsible for establishing an Executive Committee that oversees the operation of the agreement and can - among other things - agree to admit new members or to start up or wind-down ISNs.
Each of the ISNs is subject to a Network Establishment Agreement. This agreement defines the data being shared and which of the ISN Consortium members are allowed to exchange it.
The Standard Network Establishment Agreement. includes principles for operating a committee to manage the network.
The simpler Accelerated Network Establishment Agreement can be used where a lighter-touch governance arrangement is appropriate.