I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1695 

To improve the visibility, accountability, and oversight of agency software 

asset management practices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 22, 2023 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASE, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 

FALLON, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. MACE, Mr. MEUSER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 

PORTER, and Ms. TOKUDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

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 that term in section 3502 of title 44, 

6 United States Code. 

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

8 computing’’ has the meaning given the term in Spe9 cial Publication 800–145 of the National Institute of 

10 Standards and Technology, or any successor docu11 ment. 

12 (4) CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 

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

14 cloud computing products or services to agencies. 

15 (5) COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

16 ‘‘comprehensive assessment’’ means a comprehensive 

17 assessment conducted pursuant to section 3(a). 

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

19 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg20 et. 

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

22 developed by a Chief Information Officer, or equiva23 lent official, pursuant to section 4(a). 

24 (8) SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENT.—The term 

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


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

2 by or billed to an agency under any contract or 

3 other business arrangement; and 

4 (B) is subject to use limitations. 

5 (9) SOFTWARE INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘soft6 ware inventory’’ means the software inventory of an 

7 agency required pursuant to— 

8 (A) section 2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Elec9 tronic Government Accountable By Yielding 

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

11 11302 note; Public Law 114–210); or 

12 (B) subsequent guidance issued by the Di13 rector pursuant to that Act. 

14 SEC. 3. SOFTWARE ENTITLEMENT AND INVENTORY INTEG15 RITY. 

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

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

18 the Chief Information Officer of each agency, in consulta19 tion with the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Procure20 ment Officer, and General Counsel of the agency, or the 

21 equivalent officials of the agency, shall complete a com22 prehensive assessment of the software entitlements and 

23 software inventories of the agency, which shall include— 

24 (1) the current software inventory of the agen25 cy, including software entitlements, contracts and 


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1 other agreements or arrangements of the agency, 

2 and a list of the largest software entitlements of the 

3 agency separated by vendor and category of soft4 ware; 

5 (2) a comprehensive, detailed accounting of— 

6 (A) any software deployed for the agency 

7 as of the date of the comprehensive assessment, 

8 including, to the extent identifiable, the con9 tracts and other agreements or arrangements 

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

11 such software; 

12 (B) information and data on software enti13 tlements, which shall include information on 

14 any additional fees or costs for the use of cloud 

15 services that is not included in the initial costs 

16 of the contract, agreement, or arrangement— 

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 cost, volume, and type of software; 

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, accessed, or used, including 

12 any such restrictions on desktop or server hardware 

13 or through a cloud service provider; 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; 

24 (C) the extent to which the agency accu25 rately captures the total cost of enterprise liVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1695.IH H1695

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1 censes agreements and related costs, including 

2 the total cost of upgrades over the life of a con3 tract, cloud usage cost per user, and any other 

4 cost associated with the maintenance or serv5 icing of contracts; and 

6 (D) compliance with software license man7 agement policies of the agency. 

8 (b) CONTRACT SUPPORT.— 

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

10 enter into 1 or more contracts to support the re11 quirements of subsection (a). 

12 (2) NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—Contracts 

13 under paragraph (1) shall not include contractors 

14 with organization conflicts of interest. 

15 (3) OPERATIONAL INDEPENDENCE.—Over the 

16 course of a comprehensive assessment, contractors 

17 hired pursuant to paragraph (1) shall maintain oper18 ational independence from the integration, manage19 ment, and operations of the software inventory and 

20 software entitlements of the agency. 

21 (c) SUBMISSION.—On the date on which the Chief In22 formation Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procure23 ment Officer, and General Counsel of an agency, or the 

24 equivalent officials of the agency, complete the comprehen25 sive assessment, and not later than 1 year after the date 


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1 of enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer 

2 shall submit the comprehensive assessment to— 

3 (1) the head of the agency; 

4 (2) the Director; 

5 (3) the Administrator; 

6 (4) the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States; 

8 (5) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

9 Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

10 (6) the Committee on Oversight and Account11 ability of the House of Representatives. 

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

13 and standardization of the comprehensive assessment of 

14 each agency, including to support the development of each 

15 plan and the Government-wide strategy described in sec16 tion 5, the Director, in consultation with the Adminis17 trator, may share information, best practices, and rec18 ommendations relating to the activities performed in the 

19 course of a comprehensive assessment of an agency. 

20 SEC. 4. ENTERPRISE LICENSING POSITIONING AT AGEN21 CIES. 

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

23 each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Offi24 cer and the Chief Procurement Officer of the agency, or 

25 the equivalent officials of the agency, shall use the inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1695.IH H1695

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1 mation developed pursuant to the comprehensive assess2 ment of the agency to develop a plan for the agency— 

3 (1) to consolidate software licenses of the agen4 cy; and 

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

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

8 agreements across the agency, by type or category of 

9 software. 

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 com15 prehensive assessment of the agency; 

16 (B) the ongoing maintenance of software 

17 asset management upon the completion of the 

18 remediation; and 

19 (C) maximizing the effectiveness of soft20 ware deployed by the agency, including, to the 

21 extent practicable, leveraging technologies 

22 that— 

23 (i) provide in-depth analysis of user 

24 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; 

6 (iv) support effective governance and 

7 compliance in the use of software; and 

8 (v) support interoperable capabilities 

9 between software; 

10 (2) identify not fewer than 5 categories of soft11 ware the agency will prioritize for conversion to en12 terprise licenses as the software entitlements, con13 tracts, and other agreements or arrangements for 

14 those categories come up for renewal or renegoti15 ation; 

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

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

18 restrict the use of software by the agency, and the 

19 projected cost savings, efficiency measures, and im20 provements to agency performance throughout the 

21 total software lifecycle; 

22 (4) identify potential mitigations to minimize 

23 software license restrictions on how such software 

24 can be deployed, accessed, or used, including any 

25 mitigations that would minimize any such restricVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1695.IH H1695

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1 tions on desktop or server hardware or through a 

2 cloud service provider; 

3 (5) ensure that the purchase by the agency of 

4 any enterprise license or other software is based on 

5 publicly available criteria that are not unduly struc6 tured to favor any specific vendor; 

7 (6) include any estimates for additional re8 sources, services, or support the agency may need to 

9 execute the enterprise licensing position plan; 

10 (7) provide information on the prevalence of 

11 software products in use across multiple software 

12 categories; and 

13 (8) include any additional information, data, or 

14 analysis determined necessary by the Chief Informa15 tion Officer, or other equivalent official, of the agen16 cy. 

17 (c) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The Di18 rector, in coordination with the Chief Information Officers 

19 Council, the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, the Ad20 ministrator, and other government and industry represent21 atives identified by the Director, may establish processes 

22 to identify, define, and harmonize common definitions, 

23 terms and conditions, and other information and criteria 

24 to support agency heads in developing and implementing 

25 the plans required by this section. 


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1 (d) SUPPORT.—The Chief Information Officer, or 

2 other equivalent official, of an agency may request support 

3 from the Director and the Administrator for any analysis 

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

5 (e) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 120 days after the 

6 date on which the Chief Information Officer, or other 

7 equivalent official, of an agency submits the comprehen8 sive assessment pursuant to section 3(c), the head of the 

9 agency shall submit to the Director, the Committee on 

10 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen11 ate, and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

12 of the House of Representatives the plan of the agency. 

13 SEC. 5. GOVERNMENT-WIDE STRATEGY. 

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

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

16 with the Administrator and the Federal Chief Information 

17 Officers Council, shall submit to the Committee on Home18 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

19 the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the 

20 House of Representatives a strategy that includes— 

21 (1) proposals to support the adoption of Gov22 ernment-wide enterprise licenses for software entitle23 ments identified through the comprehensive assess24 ments and plans, including, where appropriate, a 

25 cost-benefit analysis; 


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1 (2) opportunities to leverage Government pro2 curement policies and practices to increase inter3 operability of software entitlements acquired and de4 ployed to reduce costs and improve performance; 

5 (3) the incorporation of data on spending by 

6 agencies on, the performance of, and management 

7 by agencies of software entitlements as part of the 

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

9 of title 40, United States Code; 

10 (4) where applicable, directions to agencies to 

11 examine options and relevant criteria for 

12 transitioning to open-source software; and 

13 (5) any other information or data collected or 

14 analyzed by the Director. 

15 (b) BUDGET SUBMISSION.— 

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

17 budget of the President submitted under section 

18 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, on or after 

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

20 of this Act, the Director shall ensure that the strat21 egy required under subsection (a) of this section and 

22 the plan of each agency are included in the budget 

23 justification materials of each agency submitted in 

24 conjunction with that budget. 


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

2 the first 5 budgets of the President submitted under 

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

4 after the budget described in paragraph (1), the Di5 rector shall— 

6 (A) designate performance metrics for 

7 agencies for common software licensing, man8 agement, and cost criteria; and 

9 (B) ensure that the progress of each agen10 cy toward the performance metrics is included 

11 in the budget justification materials of the 

12 agency submitted in conjunction with that 

13 budget. 

14 SEC. 6. GAO REPORT. 

15 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

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

17 shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

18 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

19 on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Rep20 resentatives a report on Government-wide trends, com21 parisons among agencies, and other analyses of plans and 

22 the strategy required under section 5(a) by the Comp23 troller General of the United States. 

Æ 


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