S. 1956 — Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including (1) Administrator as the Administrator of General Services; (2) agency as provided in 44 U.S.C. §3502; (3) cloud computing as provided in NIST Special Publication 800-145 (or successor); (4) cloud service provider as provided in 44 U.S.C. §3607(b); (5) comprehensive assessment as conducted pursuant to section 3(a); (6) Director as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; (7) plan as developed by a Chief Information Officer (or equivalent) pursuant to section 4(a); (8) software entitlement as agency-purchased, leased, licensed, or billed software subject to use limitations; and (9) software inventory as required by section 2(b)(2)(A) of P.L. 114-210 (40 U.S.C. 11302 note) or subsequent OMB guidance.

This section directs the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of each federal agency, in consultation with the agency's Chief Financial Officer, Chief Acquisition Officer, Chief Data Officer, and General Counsel (or equivalents), to complete a comprehensive assessment of the agency's software—including inventory, entitlements, contracts, usage, costs (including unused or duplicative licenses and cloud fees), interoperability, restrictions, and management—not later than 18 months after enactment. The assessment must (1) inventory current software, entitlements, and largest licenses by provider and category; (2) account for all deployed software, related contracts, unused entitlements, and interoperability efforts; (3) categorize entitlements by cost, volume, and type; (4) identify deployment or usage restrictions; and (5) analyze assessment accuracy, contract compliance, total costs (including upgrades and maintenance), and license policies. Agency heads must submit the assessment to the Office of Management and Budget Director, General Services Administration Administrator, Comptroller General, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform within 30 days of receipt; agencies may contract for support without organizational conflicts of interest or operational interference; and the OMB Director, in consultation with the GSA Administrator, must share best practices for standardization.

This section directs the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of each agency, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Acquisition Officer, Chief Data Officer, and General Counsel (or equivalents), to develop a software modernization plan using the comprehensive assessment required by section 3. The plan must (1) detail strategies for remediating software asset management deficiencies, ongoing maintenance, process automation, employee training on software acquisition and licensing, and maximizing software effectiveness through usage analytics and interoperable technologies; (2) identify software categories for conversion to cost-effective licenses (e.g., enterprise or open-source); (3) estimate implementation costs, projected savings, and performance improvements; (4) identify mitigations for license restrictions on deployment, access, or data; (5) base purchases on public, vendor-neutral criteria; (6) estimate needed resources; (7) describe software prevalence across categories; and (8) include other necessary information. Agency heads must submit plans to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability within one year of submitting the section 3 assessment. The OMB Director must coordinate with agency councils and others to standardize definitions and requirements supporting the plans and submit a related report to the committees within two years of enactment. Agencies may request support from the OMB Director and General Services Administration Administrator.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform not later than three years after enactment of this Act on (1) government-wide trends in agency software asset management practices; (2) comparisons of such practices among agencies; (3) the establishment by the Director of processes to identify, define, and harmonize common definitions, terms, and conditions under section 4(e); (4) agency compliance with restrictions on contract support under section 3(b); and (5) other analyses and findings regarding agency plans, as determined by the Comptroller General.