MEGABYTE Act to Become Law

WASHINGTON— US Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA) applauded the passage of the Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act in both chambers of Congress. The MEGABYTE Act will now be sent to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

Dr. Cassidy introduced the bill with Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) in the US Senate in December, 2015. The MEGABYTE Act advanced through the Senate on July 7, 2016. The House companion to Dr. Cassidy’s bill (HR 4904), which just passed the US Senate by unanimous consent was introduced by Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA-17) and sponsored by Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX-23), Steve Russell (R-OK-5) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD-7).

“Billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved if federal agencies kept track of what software they buy. It’s irresponsible they don’t do so already,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Tax dollars could be better used on our troops and our classrooms, not redundant software licenses.”

“Effective oversight of federal software license purchasing will reduce wasteful spending and make more efficient use of taxpayer dollars,” said Senator Peters. “I am pleased that this bipartisan, commonsense legislation that could potentially save billions of dollars each year is now heading to the President’s desk to be signed into law.”

“I want to thank Senator Cassidy for his leadership in the Senate, and Representatives Hurd and Russell in the House, for ensuring that this important piece of legislation becomes law,” said Rep. Cartwright. “The MEGABYTE Act is the first in a series of steps we can take to minimize wasteful software spending, and to promote the efficient procurement of technology.”

Watch Dr. Cassidy speak on the MEGABYTE Act and download the clip here.

Background

The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that implementing oversight and management policies of federal software licenses saved a single agency 181 million tax dollars per year. If implemented, the MEGABYTE Act could yield billions in savings across the federal government.

The MEGABYTE Act saves tax dollars and cuts government waste through the following actions:

• The OMB Director shall issue a directive requiring executive agencies to identify clear roles, responsibilities, and central oversight authority within the agency for managing enterprise software license agreements and commercial software licenses.
• Agencies will also establish a comprehensive inventory, including 80 percent of software license spending and enterprise licenses in the agency.
• Regularly track and maintain software licenses to assist the executive agency in implementing decisions throughout the software license management life cycle.
• Analyze software usage and other data to make cost-effective decisions.
• Provide training relevant to software license management.
• Establish goals and objectives of the software license management program of the agency.
• Consider the software license management life cycle phases, including the requisition, reception, deployment and maintenance, retirement, and disposal phases, to implement effective decision making and incorporate existing standards, processes, and metrics.

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