[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4908 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4908
To improve the visibility, accountability, and oversight of agency
software asset management practices, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 21, 2022
Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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 Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Agency Management and
Oversight of Software Assets Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of General Services.
(2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the
term ``establishment'' in section 12 of the Inspector General
Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
(3) Cloud computing.--The term ``cloud computing'' has the
meaning given the term in Special Publication 800-145 of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, or any
successor document.
(4) Cloud service provider.--The term ``cloud service
provider'' means an entity offering cloud computing products or
services to agencies.
(5) Comprehensive assessment.--The term ``comprehensive
assessment'' means a comprehensive assessment conducted
pursuant to section 3(a).
(6) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
(7) Plan.--The term ``plan'' means the plan developed by a
Chief Information Officer, or equivalent official, pursuant to
section 4(a).
(8) Software entitlement.--The term ``software
entitlement'' means any software that--
(A) has been purchased, leased, or licensed by or
billed to an agency under any contract or other
business arrangement; and
(B) is subject to use limitations.
(9) Software inventory.--The term ``software inventory''
means the software inventory of an agency required pursuant
to--
(A) section 2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Electronic
Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible
Efficiencies Act of 2016 (40 U.S.C. 11302 note; Public
Law 114-210); or
(B) subsequent guidance issued by the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to that
Act.
SEC. 3. SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENT AND INVENTORY INTEGRITY.
(a) In General.--As soon as practicable, and not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer
of each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer, the
Chief Procurement Officer, and General Counsel of the agency, or the
equivalent officials of the agency, shall complete a comprehensive
assessment of the software entitlements and software inventories of the
agency, which shall include--
(1) the current software inventory of the agency, including
software entitlements, contracts and other agreements or
arrangements of the agency, and a list of the largest software
entitlements of the agency separated by vendor;
(2) a comprehensive, detailed accounting of--
(A) any software deployed for the agency as of the
date of the comprehensive assessment, including, to the
extent identifiable, the contracts and other agreements
or arrangements that the agency uses to acquire,
deploy, or use such software;
(B) information and data on software entitlements--
(i) for which the agency pays;
(ii) that are not deployed or in use by the
agency; and
(iii) that are billed to the agency under
any contract or business arrangement that
creates redundancy in the deployment or use by
the agency; and
(C) the extent--
(i) to which any software paid for, in use,
or deployed throughout the agency is
interoperable; and
(ii) of the efforts of the agency to
improve interoperability of software assets
throughout the agency enterprise;
(3) a categorization of software licenses of the agency by
costs and volume;
(4) a list of any provisions in the software licenses of
the agency that may restrict how the software can be deployed
or accessed, either on desktop or server hardware or through a
cloud service provider; and
(5) an analysis addressing--
(A) the accuracy and completeness of the software
inventory and software entitlements of the agency
before and after the comprehensive assessment;
(B) management by the agency of and compliance by
the agency with all contracts or other agreements or
arrangements that include or implicate software
licensing or software management within the agency;
(C) the extent to which the agency accurately
captures the total costs of enterprise licenses
agreements and related costs; and
(D) compliance with software license management
policies of the agency.
(b) Contract Support.--
(1) Authority.--The head of an agency may enter into 1 or
more contracts to support the requirements of subsection (a).
(2) No conflict of interest.--Contracts under paragraph (1)
shall not include contractors with organization conflicts of
interest.
(3) Operational independence.--Over the course of a
comprehensive assessment, contractors hired pursuant to
paragraph (1) shall maintain operational independence from the
integration, management, and operations of the software
inventory and software entitlements of the agency.
(c) Submission.--On the date on which the Chief Information
Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, and
General Counsel of an agency, or the equivalent officials of the
agency, complete the comprehensive assessment, and not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Information
Officer shall submit the comprehensive assessment to--
(1) the head of the agency;
(2) the Director;
(3) the Administrator;
(4) the Comptroller General of the United States;
(5) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate; and
(6) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of
Representatives.
(d) Consultation.--In order to ensure the utility and
standardization of the comprehensive assessment of each agency,
including to support the development of each plan and the
governmentwide strategy described in section 5, the Director, in
consultation with the Administrator, may share information, best
practices, and recommendations relating to the activities performed in
the course of a comprehensive assessment of an agency.
SEC. 4. ENTERPRISE LICENSING POSITIONING AT AGENCIES.
(a) In General.--The Chief Information Officer of each agency, in
consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Procurement
Officer of the agency, or the equivalent officials of the agency, shall
use the information developed pursuant to the comprehensive assessment
of the agency under section 3(a) to develop a plan for the agency to--
(1) consolidate software licenses of the agency; and
(2) to the greatest extent practicable, in order to improve
the performance of, or reduce unnecessary costs to, the agency,
adopt enterprise license agreements across the agency.
(b) Plan Requirements.--The plan of an agency shall--
(1) include a detailed strategy for--
(A) the remediation of any software asset
management deficiencies found during the comprehensive
assessment of the agency;
(B) the ongoing maintenance of software asset
management upon the completion of the remediation; and
(C) maximizing the effectiveness of software
deployed by the agency, including, to the extent
practicable, leveraging technologies that--
(i) provide in-depth analysis of user
behaviors and collect user feedback;
(ii) measure actual software usage via
analytics that can identify inefficiencies to
assist in rationalizing software spending;
(iii) allow for segmentation of the user
base; and
(iv) support effective governance and
compliance in the use of software;
(2) identify not fewer than 5 categories of software the
agency will prioritize for conversion to enterprise licenses as
the software entitlements, contracts, and other agreements or
arrangements for those categories come up for renewal or
renegotiation;
(3) provide an estimate of the costs to move to enterprise,
open-source, or other licenses that do not restrict the use of
software by the agency, and any projected cost savings or
efficiency measures;
(4) identify potential mitigations to minimize software
license restrictions on how such software can be deployed or
accessed, either on desktop or server hardware or through a
cloud service provider;
(5) include any estimates for additional resources,
services, or support the agency may need to execute the
enterprise licensing position plan; and
(6) include any additional information, data, or analysis
determined necessary by the Chief Information Officer, or other
equivalent official, of the agency.
(c) Support.--The Chief Information Officer, or other equivalent
official, of an agency may request support from the Director and the
Administrator for any analysis or developmental needs to create the
plan of the agency.
(d) Submission.--Not later than 120 days after the date on which
the Chief Information Officer, or other equivalent official, of an
agency submits the comprehensive assessment pursuant to section 3(c),
the head of the agency shall submit to the Director, the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the
Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives the
plan of the agency.
SEC. 5. GOVERNMENTWIDE STRATEGY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Director, in consultation with the Administrator and
the Federal Chief Information Officers Council, shall submit to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate
and the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of
Representatives a strategy that includes--
(1) proposals to support the adoption of governmentwide
enterprise licenses on the most widely used and most costly
software entitlements identified through the comprehensive
assessment and plans, including, where appropriate, a cost-
benefit analysis;
(2) opportunities to leverage Government procurement
policies and practices to increase interoperability of software
entitlements acquired and deployed to reduce costs and improve
performance;
(3) the incorporation of data on spending by agencies on,
the performance of, and management by agencies of software
entitlements as part of the information required under section
11302(c)(3)(B) of title 40, United States Code;
(4) where applicable, directions to agencies to transition
to open-source software to obtain cost savings and performance
improvement; and
(5) any other information or data collected or analyzed by
the Director.
(b) Budget Submission.--
(1) First budget.--With respect to the first budget of the
President submitted under section 1105(a) of title 31, United
States Code, on or after the date that is 2 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall ensure that
the strategy required under subsection (a) of this section and
the plan of each agency are included in the budget
justification materials of each agency submitted in conjunction
with that budget.
(2) Subsequent 5 budgets.--With respect to the first 5
budgets of the President submitted under section 1105(a) of
title 31, United States Code, after the budget described in
paragraph (1), the Director shall--
(A) designate performance metrics for agencies for
common software licensing, management, and cost
criteria; and
(B) ensure that the progress of each agency toward
the performance metrics is included in the budget
justification materials of the agency submitted in
conjunction with that budget.
SEC. 6. GAO REPORT.
Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives a
report on governmentwide trends, comparisons among agencies, and other
analyses of plans and the strategy required under section 5(a) by the
Comptroller General of the United States.
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