Email comment: Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) comments on OMB software policy

[OMBPublicComments]

January 20, 2016

The Honorable Shawn Donovan
Director
Office of Management and Budget
Office of the Chief Information Officer
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503

Re: Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies Regarding Category Management Policy 16-1: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Software Licensing

Dear Director Donovan,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), I am providing these comments regarding the proposed Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies regarding Category Management Policy 16-1: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Software Licensing.
CAGW strongly supports enhancing the efficiency of the federal government, and among other issues has been involved in efforts to improve software asset management and licensing. We are pleased that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has undertaken this task as part of the guidance under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act of 2014 (FITARA), which CAGW supported.

Section 2 of the memorandum includes a requirement for the completion and reporting of an annual inventory of software license and subscription spending and enterprise licenses, including license count and usage. CAGW recommends that the reporting requirements include 1) the number of existing software licenses at the agency; 2) the number of software licenses used; 3) the amount of funding expended each year for software license compliance costs when an agency is not in compliance with the terms of the software licensing agreement; and, 4) a plan of action for bringing the number of software licenses into balance with the agency’s needs. This will provide a more accurate picture of the federal software landscape and improve oversight regarding software duplication.

Again, I appreciate the opportunity to provide comments for the proposed memorandum on behalf of CAGW. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me or CAGW Director of Technology & Telecommunications Policy Deborah Collier at (202) 467-5300.

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste