Congress Takes Another Swing At Uncle Sam's Software Licensing Mess

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is once again pushing legislation aimed at reining in the federal government's fragmented and wasteful software licensing practices.

The Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA, really?) Act was reintroduced yesterday by House Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA), joined by co-sponsors from both parties. The bill [PDF] would require federal agencies to audit their software stash, dig into how it's licensed, flag any fine print that muzzles deployment or access, and most critically, figure out how to consolidate overlapping licenses. That includes moving toward enterprise deals within each agency to cut waste and curb the usual vendor chaos.

Sloppy and inefficient software licensing in the federal government is a problem so well known that it doesn't take Elon Musk's DOGE team to call it out. In a report issued in January 2024, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that agencies' awareness of their software licenses was often "inconsistent and incomplete," leading to the GAO being unable to determine which licenses were most widely in use or where waste is lurking.

"Agencies have not fully determined over- or under-purchasing of their five most widely used software licenses," the watchdog said in its report. "Until agencies consistently track their software licenses that are currently in use and compare their inventories of software licenses with known purchases, they are likely to miss opportunities to reduce costs on duplicative or unnecessary licenses." 

The law bill introduced yesterday isn't even the first attempt to bring order to the government's software licensing chaos. A nearly identical version of the SAMOSA Act was introduced during the previous congressional session in July 2023, and eventually passed the House - but not until December of last year. With the clock running out, the bill did not progress in the Senate before the end of the congressional term. 

A number of industry groups have come out in support of the bill, some of which sent a letter [PDF] to House leadership yesterday urging them to get the SAMOSA Act passed. 

"Across the federal government, policymakers are searching for easy ways to eliminate fraud and abuse, and return money back to taxpayers," the letter said. "The SAMOSA Act is a shining example of bipartisan cooperation, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle coming together to promote transparency, accountability, and cost savings in federal software purchasing." 

Signatories to the letter included the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, NetChoice, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Software and Information Industry Association, OpenPolicy and others. 

"By confronting the flaws with the IT procurement process, the federal government can foster more competitive, secure and cost-effective software, ultimately benefiting both agencies and taxpayers," NetChoice director of state and federal affairs Amy Bos said of the draft legisation. 

NetChoice has been hammering on this issue for a while. A 2023 study [PDF] from the group argued that vendor lock-in and limited competition in federal software contracts have led agencies to overpay by hundreds of millions of dollars. The report estimated that a modest five percent boost in price performance, driven by more competitive licensing, could save the government up to $750 million a year.

As one example, according to the NetChoice study, the government spent $112 million more on Microsoft Office than it would've spent on Google Workspace to avoid the perceived costs of switching. We note that Google is a NetChoice member, while Microsoft is not, so you may want to take that study with a grain of salt. 

Also, Uncle Sam spends about $7 trillion a year, to put the above numbers into perspective. As they say, a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.

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The 2025 SAMOSA Act has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on which Connolly is the ranking minority member. 

"The SAMOSA Act is a critical step toward ensuring that federal agencies manage their software assets with the same rigor and accountability we expect in the private sector," Connolly said. "By improving transparency, reducing duplication, and leveraging enterprise licensing, we can save taxpayer dollars and modernize our IT infrastructure in a smart, strategic way." ®