New Bill Aims to Sharpen Federal Software License Management, Perhaps Saving Millions
WASHINGTON - A new bill gaining traction in Congress seeks to overhaul how the federal government manages its software licenses, potentially unlocking significant cost savings and improving efficiency. The legislation would mandate agencies establish dedicated leadership roles focused on software license asset management and cultivate internal expertise in navigating complex vendor licensing terms.
Currently,inefficient software license management costs the government an estimated $50 million annually,according to some estimates. This push for reform builds upon the success of the 2016 MEGABYTE Act, which previously resulted in $450 million in savings or avoided spending across 13 agencies between fiscal years 2017 and 2019, as reported by the Senate Homeland security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“There is an importance and a need to have greater expertise within the federal workforce, around software licensing, and especially arguably, vendor-specific software licensing terms,” said Renee Triplette, a strong supporter of the proposed legislation. She emphasized the value of mirroring practices from the commercial sector, were companies frequently employ consultants specializing in vendor licensing rules. “I think this is one area that the administration could take a cue from the commercial sector… They often have somebody in house that… may not be solely specific to one vendor,but they may do only two or three and so you really have that depth of expertise.”
Triplette added that the investment in hiring or training such experts would be quickly recouped through cost savings.
The new bill addresses a growing complexity not present during the MEGABYTE Act’s passage: the intersection of on-premise software,cloud-based solutions,and evolving licensing terms. ”The MEGABYTE Act was an excellent first step, but this, like everything, [is] part of an iterative process,” Triplette stated.”This is something that has become new as you’ve had the full federal movement to the cloud… that is something that wasn’t around during the MEGABYTE Act. I think that’s where it’s a little bit of a different situation.”
The legislation aims to formalize and mandate best practices, ensuring consistent and effective software license management across the federal government.
