President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Friday cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) to improve how the federal government manages software.
The Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act, H.R. 4904, requires federal agencies to inventory and assess spending on software licensing and sets new goals for software management.
“Last year alone the federal government spent more than $9 billion dollars managing software, yet many agencies do not have a full accounting of what they own,” Hurd said. “This results in duplicative spending. This waste of taxpayer dollars is an example of government bureaucracy at its worst.”
The MEGABYTE Act, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), is expected to result in billions of dollars in savings on software spending each year.
“I am pleased to have worked with my Democratic colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Cartwright, on this bipartisan legislation to make our digital infrastructure more efficient, cost effective, and secure so that we can bring government into the 21st century,” Hurd said.
The MEGABYTE Act will provide software license management training and require that life cycle phases be used to inform decision-making about IT investments.
The chief information officer of each executive agency will also be required by the legislation to report to the Office of Management and Budget for the next five years on savings resulting from improved software license management.