VA has faced challenges in determining whether it was purchasing too many or too few software licenses. Image: monticello/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffIn testimony focusing on only one department but involving an issue that it said is government-wide, the GAO has said the VA has not fully carried out recommendations to improve its management of software licenses and that until it does, it is leaving itself vulnerable to paying excess costs and to avoidable restrictions on that software’s use.
In testimony before a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee, a witness noted that the GAO had first identified management of software licenses as an area of focus in the 2015 version of its high-risk report, with two follow-up reports last year.
In the first of those reports, “GAO noted that while VA identified its five most widely used software vendors with the highest quantity of licenses installed, VA faced challenges in determining whether it was purchasing too many or too few of these software licenses. Specifically, VA was not tracking the appropriate number of licenses for each item of software currently in use. Additionally, the department did not compare inventories of software licenses that were currently in use to purchase records on a regular basis,” she said.
“Until VA adequately assesses the appropriate number of licenses, it cannot determine whether it is purchasing too many licenses or too few,” she said.
In the second report, “GAO found that restrictive software licensing practices adversely impacted federal agencies’ cloud computing efforts, including those of VA. These practices either increased costs of cloud software or services or limited VA’s options when selecting cloud service providers,” she said.
The VA has not established guidance for effectively managing impacts from restrictive practices for cloud computing or determined who is responsible for managing these impacts, she said, and until it does, “it will likely miss opportunities to avoid or minimize these impacts.”
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