II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Agency 

5 Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv3 ices. 

4 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

5 meaning given the term ‘‘establishment’’ in section 

6 12 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

7 App.). 

8 (3) CLOUD COMPUTING.—The term ‘‘cloud 

9 computing’’ has the meaning given the term in Spe10 cial Publication 800–145 of the National Institute of 

11 Standards and Technology, or any successor docu12 ment. 

13 (4) CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 

14 ‘‘cloud service provider’’ means an entity offering 

15 cloud computing products or services to agencies. 

16 (5) COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

17 ‘‘comprehensive assessment’’ means a comprehensive 

18 assessment conducted pursuant to section 3(a). 

19 (6) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

20 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg21 et. 

22 (7) PLAN.—The term ‘‘plan’’ means the plan 

23 developed by a Chief Information Officer, or equiva24 lent official, pursuant to section 4(a). 


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1 (8) SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENT.—The term 

2 ‘‘software entitlement’’ means any software that— 

3 (A) has been purchased, leased, or licensed 

4 by or billed to an agency under any contract or 

5 other business arrangement; and 

6 (B) is subject to use limitations. 

7 (9) SOFTWARE INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘soft8 ware inventory’’ means the software inventory of an 

9 agency required pursuant to— 

10 (A) section 2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Elec11 tronic Government Accountable By Yielding 

12 Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016 (40 U.S.C. 

13 11302 note; Public Law 114–210); or 

14 (B) subsequent guidance issued by the Di15 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

16 pursuant to that Act. 

17 SEC. 3. SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENT AND INVENTORY INTEG18 RITY. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable, and not 

20 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

21 the Chief Information Officer of each agency, in consulta22 tion with the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Procure23 ment Officer, and General Counsel of the agency, or the 

24 equivalent officials of the agency, shall complete a comVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Sep 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4908.IS S4908

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1 prehensive assessment of the software entitlements and 

2 software inventories of the agency, which shall include— 

3 (1) the current software inventory of the agen4 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 vendor; 

8 (2) a comprehensive, detailed accounting of— 

9 (A) any software deployed for the agency 

10 as of the date of the comprehensive assessment, 

11 including, to the extent identifiable, the con12 tracts and other agreements or arrangements 

13 that the agency uses to acquire, deploy, or use 

14 such software; 

15 (B) information and data on software enti16 tlements— 

17 (i) for which the agency pays; 

18 (ii) that are not deployed or in use by 

19 the agency; and 

20 (iii) that are billed to the agency 

21 under any contract or business arrange22 ment that creates redundancy in the de23 ployment or use by the agency; and 

24 (C) the extent— 


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1 (i) to which any software paid for, in 

2 use, or deployed throughout the agency is 

3 interoperable; and 

4 (ii) of the efforts of the agency to im5 prove interoperability of software assets 

6 throughout the agency enterprise; 

7 (3) a categorization of software licenses of the 

8 agency by costs and volume; 

9 (4) a list of any provisions in the software li10 censes of the agency that may restrict how the soft11 ware can be deployed or accessed, either on desktop 

12 or server hardware or through a cloud service pro13 vider; and 

14 (5) an analysis addressing— 

15 (A) the accuracy and completeness of the 

16 software inventory and software entitlements of 

17 the agency before and after the comprehensive 

18 assessment; 

19 (B) management by the agency of and 

20 compliance by the agency with all contracts or 

21 other agreements or arrangements that include 

22 or implicate software licensing or software man23 agement within the agency; 


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1 (C) the extent to which the agency accu2 rately captures the total costs of enterprise li3 censes agreements and related costs; and 

4 (D) compliance with software license man5 agement policies of the agency. 

6 (b) CONTRACT SUPPORT.— 

7 (1) AUTHORITY.—The head of an agency may 

8 enter into 1 or more contracts to support the re9 quirements of subsection (a). 

10 (2) NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—Contracts 

11 under paragraph (1) shall not include contractors 

12 with organization conflicts of interest. 

13 (3) OPERATIONAL INDEPENDENCE.—Over the 

14 course of a comprehensive assessment, contractors 

15 hired pursuant to paragraph (1) shall maintain oper16 ational independence from the integration, manage17 ment, and operations of the software inventory and 

18 software entitlements of the agency. 

19 (c) SUBMISSION.—On the date on which the Chief In20 formation Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procure21 ment Officer, and General Counsel of an agency, or the 

22 equivalent officials of the agency, complete the comprehen23 sive assessment, and not later than 1 year after the date 

24 of enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer 

25 shall submit the comprehensive assessment to— 


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1 (1) the head of the agency; 

2 (2) the Director; 

3 (3) the Administrator; 

4 (4) the Comptroller General of the United 

5 States; 

6 (5) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

7 Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

8 (6) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of 

9 the House of Representatives. 

10 (d) CONSULTATION.—In order to ensure the utility 

11 and standardization of the comprehensive assessment of 

12 each agency, including to support the development of each 

13 plan and the governmentwide strategy described in section 

14 5, the Director, in consultation with the Administrator, 

15 may share information, best practices, and recommenda16 tions relating to the activities performed in the course of 

17 a comprehensive assessment of an agency. 

18 SEC. 4. ENTERPRISE LICENSING POSITIONING AT AGEN19 CIES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Information Officer of 

21 each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Offi22 cer and the Chief Procurement Officer of the agency, or 

23 the equivalent officials of the agency, shall use the infor24 mation developed pursuant to the comprehensive assessVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4908.IS S4908

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1 ment of the agency under section 3(a) to develop a plan 

2 for the agency to— 

3 (1) consolidate software licenses of the agency; 

4 and 

5 (2) to the greatest extent practicable, in order 

6 to improve the performance of, or reduce unneces7 sary costs to, the agency, adopt enterprise license 

8 agreements across the agency. 

9 (b) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The plan of an agency 

10 shall— 

11 (1) include a detailed strategy for— 

12 (A) the remediation of any software asset 

13 management deficiencies found during the com14 prehensive assessment of the agency; 

15 (B) the ongoing maintenance of software 

16 asset management upon the completion of the 

17 remediation; and 

18 (C) maximizing the effectiveness of soft19 ware deployed by the agency, including, to the 

20 extent practicable, leveraging technologies 

21 that— 

22 (i) provide in-depth analysis of user 

23 behaviors and collect user feedback; 


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1 (ii) measure actual software usage via 

2 analytics that can identify inefficiencies to 

3 assist in rationalizing software spending; 

4 (iii) allow for segmentation of the user 

5 base; and 

6 (iv) support effective governance and 

7 compliance in the use of software; 

8 (2) identify not fewer than 5 categories of soft9 ware the agency will prioritize for conversion to en10 terprise licenses as the software entitlements, con11 tracts, and other agreements or arrangements for 

12 those categories come up for renewal or renegoti13 ation; 

14 (3) provide an estimate of the costs to move to 

15 enterprise, open-source, or other licenses that do not 

16 restrict the use of software by the agency, and any 

17 projected cost savings or efficiency measures; 

18 (4) identify potential mitigations to minimize 

19 software license restrictions on how such software 

20 can be deployed or accessed, either on desktop or 

21 server hardware or through a cloud service provider; 

22 (5) include any estimates for additional re23 sources, services, or support the agency may need to 

24 execute the enterprise licensing position plan; and 


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1 (6) include any additional information, data, or 

2 analysis determined necessary by the Chief Informa3 tion Officer, or other equivalent official, of the agen4 cy. 

5 (c) SUPPORT.—The Chief Information Officer, or 

6 other equivalent official, of an agency may request support 

7 from the Director and the Administrator for any analysis 

8 or developmental needs to create the plan of the agency. 

9 (d) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 120 days after the 

10 date on which the Chief Information Officer, or other 

11 equivalent official, of an agency submits the comprehen12 sive assessment pursuant to section 3(c), the head of the 

13 agency shall submit to the Director, the Committee on 

14 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen15 ate, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 

16 House of Representatives the plan of the agency. 

17 SEC. 5. GOVERNMENTWIDE STRATEGY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in consultation 

20 with the Administrator and the Federal Chief Information 

21 Officers Council, shall submit to the Committee on Home22 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

23 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 

24 Representatives a strategy that includes— 


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1 (1) proposals to support the adoption of govern2 mentwide enterprise licenses on the most widely used 

3 and most costly software entitlements identified 

4 through the comprehensive assessment and plans, 

5 including, where appropriate, a cost-benefit analysis; 

6 (2) opportunities to leverage Government pro7 curement policies and practices to increase inter8 operability of software entitlements acquired and de9 ployed to reduce costs and improve performance; 

10 (3) the incorporation of data on spending by 

11 agencies on, the performance of, and management 

12 by agencies of software entitlements as part of the 

13 information required under section 11302(c)(3)(B) 

14 of title 40, United States Code; 

15 (4) where applicable, directions to agencies to 

16 transition to open-source software to obtain cost sav17 ings and performance improvement; and 

18 (5) any other information or data collected or 

19 analyzed by the Director. 

20 (b) BUDGET SUBMISSION.— 

21 (1) FIRST BUDGET.—With respect to the first 

22 budget of the President submitted under section 

23 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, on or after 

24 the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Director shall ensure that the stratVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4908.IS S4908

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1 egy required under subsection (a) of this section and 

2 the plan of each agency are included in the budget 

3 justification materials of each agency submitted in 

4 conjunction with that budget. 

5 (2) SUBSEQUENT 5 BUDGETS.—With respect to 

6 the first 5 budgets of the President submitted under 

7 section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 

8 after the budget described in paragraph (1), the Di9 rector shall— 

10 (A) designate performance metrics for 

11 agencies for common software licensing, man12 agement, and cost criteria; and 

13 (B) ensure that the progress of each agen14 cy toward the performance metrics is included 

15 in the budget justification materials of the 

16 agency submitted in conjunction with that 

17 budget. 

18 SEC. 6. GAO REPORT. 

19 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

20 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

21 shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

22 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

23 on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives 

24 a report on governmentwide trends, comparisons among 

25 agencies, and other analyses of plans and the strategy reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4908.IS S4908

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1 quired under section 5(a) by the Comptroller General of 

2 the United States. 

Æ 


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