OMB has released guidance intended to improve how agencies manage and spend $9 billion a year on software across 50,000 transactions.
CIO Tony Scott said the government “marketplace” for this is fragmented and inefficient, noting a GAO study that identified decentralization in how agencies buy and manage software licenses, difficulty maintaining accurate inventories, over-purchasing, and a lack of sharing of pricing, terms, and conditions that could help agencies negotiate.
Scott said the guidance aims to address those problems, as well as others such as the lack of designated central oversight authority to manage software agreements in many agencies, and a lack of sufficient experience and expertise to effectively negotiate and manage large software agreements (as one commenter on the draft – at software.cio.gov – noted, those things aren’t free and could wind up consuming savings if not done carefully).
The guidance further “doubles down” on recent efforts including a GSA BPA for Salesforce Services and one for geospatial services by pushing agencies to “maximize the use of best-in-class solutions and for a multi-agency software team to develop new enterprise-wide software agreements,” according to Scott.
He also said guidance for mobile solutions will be released this year.
