Given that agencies sometimes get loose or government discounts, it may also be more affordable to buy software licenses in the name of their private entrepreneurs. “It is a very clear way for agencies to manage costs,” explains the former official.
Each government agency has its own unique structure, including numerous undergoes or units, each with its own software needs. This could help explain other alleged license problems that DOGE called this week, in particular that GSA has “3 different ticketing systems in parallel” and several tools to organize unpertified training.
In A separate message This week, DOGE called the Ministry of Labor for allegedly authorized five cybersecurity programs, each for more than 20,000 users, despite only 15,000 employees. The message also cited the department holding 380 licenses of Microsoft 365 productivity software with zero users, installing only 30 of the 128 conference rooms of Microsoft teams which it has under license and using only 22 of the 129 Photoshop licenses. The message also referred to unused licenses for “VSCODE”, the name of the shortcut for a completely free Microsoft tool to write code; The company sells a paid alternative known as Visual Studio.
Microsoft refused to comment. Adobe, who develops Photoshop, did not respond to a request for comments.
Although Doge has not been able to present a complete image of unnecessary expenses, it is true that the federal government has sometimes struggled to effectively manage its use of software licenses. Many watchdog groups inside the government have found cases of unnecessary expenses in software in the past.
Congress members have been trying for years to ask the agencies to resolve the problem, said the former federal official. The law on the management and monitoring of strengthening software assets, or Samosa ActWho adopted the room last year with bipartite support but stopped in the Senate, would have forced agencies to do what Doge does now: assess existing software contracts, consolidate licenses as much as possible and obtain better offers to reduce costs. Legislation aimed to give agencies more negotiation power Handle of large technological companies This dominates government software contracts, according to the former official.
“If Elon [Musk] I wanted to do it in the right way, they would work with Congress to adopt the Samosa law, “said the manager. “Thus, people who will be there even when Doge can conclude smarter and cheaper contracts. They should define a reproducible process by which agencies will constantly reassess their software needs and obtain better performance for lower costs. »»
Triplet, from the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, credited Doge for examining license problems. “I know that there is a lot of concerns about what Doge does, but it is an area in which there is hope and the possibility,” she says.
Other experts in federal markets and congress offices said wired This Doge should not lose sight of the biggest targets while reducing savings. There were 11 federal market programs for information technologies, each of which represented more than a billion dollars in spending during the last financial year of the government, which took place from October 2023 to September 2024, according to a Wired by Deltek analysis, of which the Govwin IQ Tools follows supply. Contracts are often divided into smaller parts, and among these tasks, more than a billion dollars have been spent on six individual tasks orders linked to it in recent years. They are led by a Dell agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs and A Booz Allen Hamilton agreement With the Pentagon.
