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 ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv-
ices. 
(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 3502 of title 44, 
United States Code, except that such term does not 
include an element of the intelligence community. 
(3) CLOUD
COMPUTING.—The term ‘‘cloud 
computing’’ has the meaning given the term in Spe-
cial Publication 800–145 of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, or any successor docu-
ment. 
(4) CLOUD
SERVICE
PROVIDER.—The term 
‘‘cloud service provider’’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 3607(b) of title 44, United States 
Code. 
(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 Budg-
et. 
(7) INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY.—The term 
‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 
1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 
(8) PLAN.—The term ‘‘plan’’ means the plan 
developed by a Chief Information Officer, or equiva-
lent official, pursuant to section 4(a). 
(9) 
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. 
(10) SOFTWARE INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘soft-
ware inventory’’ means the software inventory of an 
agency required pursuant to— 
(A) section 2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Elec-
tronic 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 Di-
rector pursuant to that Act.
SEC. 3. SOFTWARE INVENTORY UPDATE AND EXPANSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable, and not 
later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 
Act, the Chief Information Officer of each agency, in con-
sultation with the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Ac-
quisition Officer, the Chief Data Officer, and General 
Counsel of the agency, or the equivalent officials of the 
agency, shall complete a comprehensive assessment of the 
software paid for by, in use at, or deployed throughout 
the agency, which shall include— 
(1) the current software inventory of the agen-
cy, 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 provider and category of soft-
ware; 
(2) a comprehensive, detailed accounting of— 
(A) any software used by or deployed with-
in the agency, including software developed or 
built by the agency, or by another agency for 
use by the agency, including shared services, as 
of the date of the comprehensive assessment, 
including, to the extent identifiable, the con-
tracts and other agreements or arrangements 
used by the agency to acquire, build, deploy, or 
use such software;
(B) information and data on software enti-
tlements, which shall include information on 
any additional fees or costs, including fees or 
costs for the use of cloud services, that are not 
included in the initial costs of the contract, 
agreement, or arrangement— 
(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 arrange-
ment that creates duplication, or are other-
wise determined to be unnecessary by the 
Chief Information Officer of the agency, or 
the equivalent official, 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 im-
prove interoperability of software assets 
throughout the agency enterprise; 
(3) a categorization of software entitlements of 
the agency by cost, volume, and type of software;
(4) a list of any provisions in the software enti-
tlements of the agency that may restrict how the 
software can be deployed, accessed, or used, includ-
ing any such restrictions on desktop or server hard-
ware, through a cloud service provider, or on data 
ownership or access; and 
(5) an analysis addressing— 
(A) the accuracy and completeness of the 
comprehensive assessment; 
(B) agency management of and compliance 
with all contracts or other agreements or ar-
rangements that include or reference software 
entitlements or software management within 
the agency; 
(C) the extent to which the agency accu-
rately captures the total cost of software enti-
tlements and related costs, including the total 
cost of upgrades over the life of a contract, 
cloud usage costs, and any other cost associated 
with the maintenance or servicing of contracts; 
and 
(D) compliance with software license man-
agement policies of the agency. 
(b) CONTRACT SUPPORT.—
the head of the agency shall submit the comprehensive as-
sessment to— 
(1) the Director; 
(2) the Administrator; 
(3) the Comptroller General of the United 
States; 
(4) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 
(5) the Committee on Oversight and Govern-
ment Reform of the House of Representatives. 
(e) 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 report required under section 4(e)(2), the 
Director, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 
share information, best practices, and recommendations 
relating to the activities performed in the course of a com-
prehensive assessment of an agency. 
(f) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—For each element 
of the intelligence community, a comprehensive assess-
ment described under subsection (a) shall be— 
(1) conducted separately; 
(2) performed only by an entity designated by 
the head of the element of the intelligence commu-
nity, in accordance with appropriate applicable laws;
(3) performed in such a manner as to ensure 
appropriate protection of information which, if dis-
closed, may adversely affect national security; and 
(4) submitted in summary form, not later than 
30 days after the date on which the head of the ele-
ment of the intelligence community receives the as-
sessment, by the head of the element of the intel-
ligence community to— 
(A) the Director; 
(B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 
of the Senate; and 
(C) the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence of the House of Representatives. 
SEC. 4. SOFTWARE MODERNIZATION PLANNING AT AGEN-
CIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Information Officer of 
each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Offi-
cer, the Chief Acquisition Officer, the Chief Data Officer, 
and the General Counsel of the agency, or the equivalent 
officials of the agency, shall use the information developed 
pursuant to the comprehensive assessment of the agency 
to develop a plan for the agency— 
(1) to consolidate software entitlements of the 
agency;
(2) to ensure that, in order to improve the per-
formance of, and reduce unnecessary costs to, the 
agency, the Chief Information Officer, Chief Data 
Officer, and Chief Acquisition Officer of the agency, 
or the equivalent officers, develop criteria and proce-
dures for how the agency will adopt cost-effective ac-
quisition strategies, including enterprise licensing, 
across the agency that reduce costs, eliminate excess 
licenses, and improve performance; and 
(3) to restrict the ability of a bureau, program, 
component, or operational entity within the agency 
to acquire, use, develop, or otherwise leverage any 
software entitlement (or portion thereof) without the 
approval of the Chief Information Officer of the 
agency, in consultation with the Chief Acquisition 
Officer of the agency, or the equivalent officers of 
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 com-
prehensive assessment of the agency;
(B) the ongoing maintenance of software 
asset management upon the completion of the 
remediation; 
(C) automation of software license man-
agement processes and incorporation of dis-
covery tools across the agency; 
(D) ensuring that officers and employees 
of the agency are adequately trained in the poli-
cies, procedures, rules, regulations, and guid-
ance relating to the software acquisition and 
development of the agency before entering into 
any agreement relating to any software entitle-
ment (or portion thereof) for the agency, in-
cluding training on— 
(i) negotiating options within con-
tracts to address and minimize provisions 
that restrict how the agency may deploy, 
access, or use the software, including re-
strictions on deployment, access, or use on 
desktop or server hardware and restric-
tions on data ownership or access; 
(ii) the differences between acquiring 
commercial software products and services 
and acquiring or building custom software; 
and
(iii) determining the costs of different 
types of licenses and options for adjusting 
licenses to meet increasing or decreasing 
demand; and 
(E) maximizing the effectiveness of soft-
ware deployed by the agency, including, to the 
extent 
practicable, 
leveraging 
technologies 
that— 
(i) measure actual software usage via 
analytics that can identify inefficiencies to 
assist in rationalizing software spending; 
(ii) allow for segmentation of the user 
base; 
(iii) support effective governance and 
compliance in the use of software; and 
(iv) support interoperable capabilities 
between software; 
(2) identify categories of software the agency 
could prioritize for conversion to more cost-effective 
software licenses, including enterprise licenses, as 
the software entitlements, contracts, and other 
agreements or arrangements come up for renewal or 
renegotiation; 
(3) provide an estimate of the costs to move to-
ward more enterprise, open-source, or other licenses
that do not restrict the use of software by the agen-
cy, and the projected cost savings, efficiency meas-
ures, and improvements to agency performance 
throughout the total software lifecycle; 
(4) identify potential mitigations to minimize 
software license restrictions on how such software 
can be deployed, accessed, or used, including any 
mitigations that would minimize any such restric-
tions on desktop or server hardware, through a cloud 
service provider, or on data ownership or access; 
(5) ensure that the purchase by the agency of 
any software is based on publicly available criteria 
that are not unduly structured to favor any specific 
vendor, unless prohibited by law (including regula-
tion); 
(6) include any estimates for additional re-
sources, services, or support the agency may need to 
implement the plan; 
(7) provide information on the prevalence of 
software products in use across multiple software 
categories; and 
(8) include any additional information, data, or 
analysis determined necessary by the Chief Informa-
tion Officer, or other equivalent official, of the agen-
cy.
(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) AGENCY SUBMISSION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date on which the head of an agency submits the 
comprehensive assessment pursuant to section 3(d), 
the head of the agency shall submit to the Director, 
the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-
mental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives the plan of the agency. 
(2) INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY.—Not later 
than 1 year after the date on which the head of an 
element of the intelligence community submits the 
summary assessment pursuant to section 3(f)(4), the 
head of the element shall separately submit the plan 
of the element to the Director, the Select Committee 
on Intelligence of the Senate, and the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
Representatives. 
(e) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The Di-
rector—
(1) in coordination with the Administrator, the 
Chief Information Officers Council, the Chief Acqui-
sition Officers Council, the Chief Data Officers 
Council, the Chief Financial Officers Council, and 
other government and industry representatives iden-
tified by the Director, shall establish processes, 
using existing reporting functions, as appropriate, to 
identify, define, and harmonize common definitions, 
terms and conditions, standardized requirements, 
and other information and criteria to support agency 
heads in developing and implementing the plans re-
quired by this section; and 
(2) in coordination with the Administrator, and 
not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, submit to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 
and the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform of the House of Representatives a report de-
tailing recommendations to leverage Government 
procurement policies and practices with respect to 
software acquired by, developed by, deployed within, 
or in use at 1 or more agencies to— 
(A) increase the interoperability of soft-
ware licenses, including software entitlements 
and software built by Government agencies;
(B) consolidate licenses, as appropriate; 
(C) reduce costs; 
(D) improve performance; and 
(E) modernize the management and over-
sight of software entitlements and software 
built by Government agencies, as identified 
through an analysis of agency plans. 
SEC. 5. 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 Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives a report on— 
(1) Government-wide trends in agency software 
asset management practices; 
(2) comparisons of software asset management 
practices among agencies; 
(3) the establishment by the Director of proc-
esses to identify, define, and harmonize common 
definitions, terms, and conditions under section 4(e); 
(4) agency compliance with the restrictions on 
contract support under section 3(b); and
(5) other analyses of and findings regarding the 
plans of agencies, as determined by the Comptroller 
General of the United States. 
SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-
priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 
Passed the House of Representatives December 15, 
2025. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 5457 
AN ACT 
To improve the visibility, accountability, and over-
sight of agency software asset management prac-
tices, and for other purposes.