[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 114 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5126-S5127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MEGABYTE ACT OF 2016

  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I rise today in support of H.R. 4904, the 
Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible 
Efficiencies Act of 2016, and that is an acronym for the MEGABYTE Act.
  H.R. 4904 is the House companion to a piece of legislation Senator 
Gary Peters and I introduced, S. 2340. I would like to thank Senator 
Peters for being the lead cosponsor of the Senate version of the 
MEGABYTE Act and thank Senator Thad Cochran for cosponsoring it. S. 
2340 passed the Senate by voice vote last week.
  My friends in the House of Representatives--Representative Matt 
Cartwright, Representative Will Hurd, Representative Steve Russell, and 
Representative Elijah Cummings--are the lead sponsors of H.R. 4904. It 
passed the House on June 7, 2016, by a vote of 366 to 0.
  The MEGABYTE Act reforms the Federal Government's management of 
information technology software licensing. The nonpartisan Government 
Accountability Office, or the GAO, found that implementing oversight 
and management policies of Federal software licenses saved a single 
agency 181 million taxpayer dollars per year.
  If implemented, the MEGABYTE Act could yield billions in savings 
across the Federal Government. Now, the Federal Government spends $82 
billion a year on information technology. In 2015, for example, for the 
second year in a row, GAO listed IT software license management as a 
top priority for its annual duplication report. The GAO stated that the 
executive branch ``does not have adequate policies for managing 
software licenses.'' Of the 24 major Federal agencies, only 2 have 
implemented comprehensive and clear management policies of Federal 
software licenses. Furthermore, none of the 24 major Federal agencies 
have fully implemented all 5 industry-best practices recommended by the 
GAO.
  The MEGABYTE Act saves taxpayer dollars and cuts government waste 
through the following actions:
  The Office of Management and Budget Director shall issue a directive 
requiring that the chief information officer of each executive agency 
is to identify clear roles, responsibilities, and central oversight 
authority within the agency for managing enterprise software license 
agreements and commercial software licenses.
  Agencies will also establish a comprehensive inventory, including 80 
percent of software licensing spending and enterprise licenses in the 
agency.
  They shall regularly track and maintain software licenses to assist 
the executive agency in implementing decisions throughout the software 
license management lifecycle.
  They shall analyze software usage and other data to make cost-
effective decisions. I notice that every now and then, someone has a 
database software package and they never use the database. We the 
taxpayer can save that money.
  They should provide training relevant to software license management 
and establish goals and objectives of the software license management 
program of the agency.
  Lastly, I will mention that they should consider the software license 
management lifecycle phases--including the requisition, reception, 
deployment, maintenance, retirement, and disposal phases--to implement 
effective decisionmaking and incorporate existing standards, processes, 
and metrics.
  Congress has the responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are 
being used efficiently and effectively.
  For all the reasons stated above, I offer my strong support for the 
MEGABYTE Act and urge the Senate to pass H.R. 4904, sending it to the 
President's desk.
  With that said, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further 
consideration of H.R. 4904 and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4904) to require the Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget to issue a directive on the management 
     of software licenses, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 4904) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.
  Mr. CASSIDY. I yield the floor.

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