What This Bill Does
This bill requires federal agencies to conduct a complete review of all software they own, lease, or license. After the review, agencies must create plans to reduce software costs, eliminate unnecessary licenses, and improve how they manage software across their operations.
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Who It Affects
- Federal agencies (except intelligence agencies)
- Chief Information Officers at federal agencies
- Software vendors and cloud service providers that work with federal agencies
- Congress
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Key Provisions
- Each agency must complete a detailed software inventory and assessment within 18 months that includes all software costs, contracts, unused licenses, and restrictions on how software can be used (Sec. 3(a))
- Agencies must identify software entitlements that create duplication or are unnecessary and not being used (Sec. 3(a)(2)(B))
- Agencies must report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administrator, the Comptroller General, and Congress about what they found in their assessments (Sec. 3(d))
- Each agency must develop a plan to consolidate software licenses, adopt cost-effective acquisition strategies like enterprise licensing, and require approval from the Chief Information Officer before any department buys new software (Sec. 4(a))
- The Director of the Office of Management and Budget must issue a report within 2 years recommending how to increase software interoperability (the ability of different software to work together), reduce costs, and improve agency performance (Sec. 4(e)(2))
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What Changes
Federal agencies will be required to know exactly what software they own and what they spend on it. They will no longer be able to buy software without approval from their Chief Information Officer. Agencies must create written plans explaining how they will reduce unnecessary software spending and improve their software management practices.
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Important Definitions
- **Software entitlement**: Any software purchased, leased, or licensed by an agency that has limits on how it can be used
- **Cloud computing**: The delivery of computing services over the internet
- **Comprehensive assessment**: The detailed review of all software an agency owns, leases, or licenses
- **Software inventory**: The list of all software an agency uses
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
Calendar No. 666
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1695
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
DECEMBER 5, 2024
Received; read twice and placed on the calendar
AN ACT
To improve the visibility, accountability, and oversight of
agency software asset management practices, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Agency
4
Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
6
In this Act:
7
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
8
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv-
9
ices.
10
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(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the
1
meaning given that term in section 3502 of title 44,
2
United States Code, except that such term does not
3
include an element of the intelligence community.
4
(3) CLOUD
COMPUTING.—The term ‘‘cloud
5
computing’’ has the meaning given the term in Spe-
6
cial Publication 800–145 of the National Institute of
7
Standards and Technology, or any successor docu-
8
ment.
9
(4) CLOUD
SERVICE
PROVIDER.—The term
10
‘‘cloud service provider’’ has the meaning given the
11
term in section 3607(b) of title 44, United States
12
Code.
13
(5) COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term
14
‘‘comprehensive assessment’’ means a comprehensive
15
assessment conducted pursuant to section 3(a).
16
(6) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
17
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
18
et.
19
(7) INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY.—The term
20
‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given the
21
term in section 3 of the National Security Act of
22
1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).
23
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(8) PLAN.—The term ‘‘plan’’ means the plan
1
developed by a Chief Information Officer, or equiva-
2
lent official, pursuant to section 4(a).
3
(9)
SOFTWARE
ENTITLEMENT.—The
term
4
‘‘software entitlement’’ means any software that—
5
(A) has been purchased, leased, or licensed
6
by or billed to an agency under any contract or
7
other business arrangement; and
8
(B) is subject to use limitations.
9
(10) SOFTWARE INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘soft-
10
ware inventory’’ means the software inventory of an
11
agency required pursuant to—
12
(A) section 2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Elec-
13
tronic Government Accountable By Yielding
14
Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016 (40 U.S.C.
15
11302 note; Public Law 114–210); or
16
(B) subsequent guidance issued by the Di-
17
rector pursuant to that Act.
18
SEC. 3. SOFTWARE INVENTORY UPDATE AND EXPANSION.
19
(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable, and not
20
later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this
21
Act, the Chief Information Officer of each agency, in con-
22
sultation with the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Ac-
23
quisition Officer, the Chief Data Officer, and General
24
Counsel of the agency, or the equivalent officials of the
25
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agency, shall complete a comprehensive assessment of the
1
software paid for by, in use at, or deployed throughout
2
the agency, which shall include—
3
(1) the current software inventory of the agen-
4
cy, including software entitlements, contracts and
5
other agreements or arrangements of the agency,
6
and a list of the largest software entitlements of the
7
agency separated by provider and category of soft-
8
ware;
9
(2) a comprehensive, detailed accounting of—
10
(A) any software used by or deployed with-
11
in the agency, including software developed or
12
built by the agency, or by another agency for
13
use by the agency, including shared services, as
14
of the date of the comprehensive assessment,
15
including, to the extent identifiable, the con-
16
tracts and other agreements or arrangements
17
used by the agency to acquire, build, deploy, or
18
use such software;
19
(B) information and data on software enti-
20
tlements, which shall include information on
21
any additional fees or costs, including fees or
22
costs for the use of cloud services, that are not
23
included in the initial costs of the contract,
24
agreement, or arrangement—
25
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(i) for which the agency pays;
1
(ii) that are not deployed or in use by
2
the agency; and
3
(iii) that are billed to the agency
4
under any contract or business arrange-
5
ment that creates duplication, or are other-
6
wise determined to be unnecessary by the
7
Chief Information Officer of the agency, or
8
the equivalent official, in the deployment
9
or use by the agency; and
10
(C) the extent—
11
(i) to which any software paid for, in
12
use, or deployed throughout the agency is
13
interoperable; and
14
(ii) of the efforts of the agency to im-
15
prove interoperability of software assets
16
throughout the agency enterprise;
17
(3) a categorization of software entitlements of
18
the agency by cost, volume, and type of software;
19
(4) a list of any provisions in the software enti-
20
tlements of the agency that may restrict how the
21
software can be deployed, accessed, or used, includ-
22
ing any such restrictions on desktop or server hard-
23
ware, through a cloud service provider, or on data
24
ownership or access; and
25
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(5) an analysis addressing—
1
(A) the accuracy and completeness of the
2
comprehensive assessment;
3
(B) agency management of and compliance
4
with all contracts or other agreements or ar-
5
rangements that include or reference software
6
entitlements or software management within
7
the agency;
8
(C) the extent to which the agency accu-
9
rately captures the total cost of software enti-
10
tlements and related costs, including the total
11
cost of upgrades over the life of a contract,
12
cloud usage costs, and any other cost associated
13
with the maintenance or servicing of contracts;
14
and
15
(D) compliance with software license man-
16
agement policies of the agency.
17
(b) CONTRACT SUPPORT.—
18
(1) AUTHORITY.—The head of an agency may
19
enter into 1 or more contracts to support the re-
20
quirements of subsection (a).
21
(2) NO
CONFLICT
OF
INTEREST.—Contracts
22
under paragraph (1) shall not include contractors
23
with organizational conflicts of interest, within the
24
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meaning given that term under subpart 9.5 of the
1
Federal Acquisition Regulation.
2
(3) OPERATIONAL INDEPENDENCE.—Over the
3
course of a comprehensive assessment, contractors
4
hired pursuant to paragraph (1) shall maintain oper-
5
ational independence from the integration, manage-
6
ment, and operations of the software inventory and
7
software entitlements of the agency.
8
(c) SUBMISSION.—On the date on which the Chief In-
9
formation Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Acquisi-
10
tion Officer, the Chief Data Officer, and General Counsel
11
of an agency, or the equivalent officials of the agency,
12
complete the comprehensive assessment, the Chief Infor-
13
mation Officer shall submit the comprehensive assessment
14
to the head of the agency.
15
(d) SUBSEQUENT SUBMISSION.—Not later than 30
16
days after the date on which the head of an agency re-
17
ceives the comprehensive assessment under subsection (c),
18
the head of the agency shall submit the comprehensive as-
19
sessment to—
20
(1) the Director;
21
(2) the Administrator;
22
(3) the Comptroller General of the United
23
States;
24
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(4) the Committee on Homeland Security and
1
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
2
(5) the Committee on Oversight and Account-
3
ability of the House of Representatives.
4
(e) CONSULTATION.—In order to ensure the utility
5
and standardization of the comprehensive assessment of
6
each agency, including to support the development of each
7
plan and the report required under section 4(e)(2), the
8
Director, in consultation with the Administrator, shall
9
share information, best practices, and recommendations
10
relating to the activities performed in the course of a com-
11
prehensive assessment of an agency.
12
(f) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—For each element
13
of the intelligence community, a comprehensive assess-
14
ment described under subsection (a) shall be—
15
(1) conducted separately;
16
(2) performed only by an entity designated by
17
the head of the element of the intelligence commu-
18
nity, in accordance with appropriate applicable laws;
19
(3) performed in such a manner as to ensure
20
appropriate protection of information which, if dis-
21
closed, may adversely affect national security; and
22
(4) submitted in summary form, not later than
23
30 days after the date on which the head of the ele-
24
ment of the intelligence community receives the as-
25
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sessment, by the head of the element of the intel-
1
ligence community to—
2
(A) the Director;
3
(B) the Select Committee on Intelligence
4
of the Senate; and
5
(C) the Permanent Select Committee on
6
Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
7
SEC. 4. SOFTWARE MODERNIZATION PLANNING AT AGEN-
8
CIES.
9
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Information Officer of
10
each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Offi-
11
cer, the Chief Acquisition Officer, the Chief Data Officer,
12
and the General Counsel of the agency, or the equivalent
13
officials of the agency, shall use the information developed
14
pursuant to the comprehensive assessment of the agency
15
to develop a plan for the agency—
16
(1) to consolidate software entitlements of the
17
agency;
18
(2) to ensure that, in order to improve the per-
19
formance of, and reduce unnecessary costs to, the
20
agency, the Chief Information Officer, Chief Data
21
Officer, and Chief Acquisition Officer of the agency,
22
or the equivalent officers, develop criteria and proce-
23
dures for how the agency will adopt cost-effective ac-
24
quisition strategies, including enterprise licensing,
25
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across the agency that reduce costs, eliminate excess
1
licenses, and improve performance; and
2
(3) to restrict the ability of a bureau, program,
3
component, or operational entity within the agency
4
to acquire, use, develop, or otherwise leverage any
5
software entitlement (or portion thereof) without the
6
approval of the Chief Information Officer of the
7
agency, in consultation with the Chief Acquisition
8
Officer of the agency, or the equivalent officers of
9
the agency.
10
(b) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The plan of an agency
11
shall—
12
(1) include a detailed strategy for—
13
(A) the remediation of any software asset
14
management deficiencies found during the com-
15
prehensive assessment of the agency;
16
(B) the ongoing maintenance of software
17
asset management upon the completion of the
18
remediation;
19
(C) automation of software license man-
20
agement processes and incorporation of dis-
21
covery tools across the agency;
22
(D) ensuring that officers and employees
23
of the agency are adequately trained in the poli-
24
cies, procedures, rules, regulations, and guid-
25
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ance relating to the software acquisition and
1
development of the agency before entering into
2
any agreement relating to any software entitle-
3
ment (or portion thereof) for the agency, in-
4
cluding training on—
5
(i) negotiating options within con-
6
tracts to address and minimize provisions
7
that restrict how the agency may deploy,
8
access, or use the software, including re-
9
strictions on deployment, access, or use on
10
desktop or server hardware and restric-
11
tions on data ownership or access;
12
(ii) the differences between acquiring
13
commercial software products and services
14
and acquiring or building custom software;
15
and
16
(iii) determining the costs of different
17
types of licenses and options for adjusting
18
licenses to meet increasing or decreasing
19
demand; and
20
(E) maximizing the effectiveness of soft-
21
ware deployed by the agency, including, to the
22
extent
practicable,
leveraging
technologies
23
that—
24
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(i) measure actual software usage via
1
analytics that can identify inefficiencies to
2
assist in rationalizing software spending;
3
(ii) allow for segmentation of the user
4
base;
5
(iii) support effective governance and
6
compliance in the use of software; and
7
(iv) support interoperable capabilities
8
between software;
9
(2) identify categories of software the agency
10
could prioritize for conversion to more cost-effective
11
software licenses, including enterprise licenses, as
12
the software entitlements, contracts, and other
13
agreements or arrangements come up for renewal or
14
renegotiation;
15
(3) provide an estimate of the costs to move to-
16
ward more enterprise, open-source, or other licenses
17
that do not restrict the use of software by the agen-
18
cy, and the projected cost savings, efficiency meas-
19
ures, and improvements to agency performance
20
throughout the total software lifecycle;
21
(4) identify potential mitigations to minimize
22
software license restrictions on how such software
23
can be deployed, accessed, or used, including any
24
mitigations that would minimize any such restric-
25
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