Since agencies sometimes receive mass or state-specific discounts, it can also be more affordable to buy software licenses on behalf of their private contractors. “It is a very clear way for agencies to manage the costs,” says the ex-official.
Each governmental authority has its own unique structure, including many underlays or units, each of which has its own software requirements. This could help to explain other alleged license problems that the mastiff triggered this week, including the GSA, in which “3 different ticketing systems run in parallel” and have several tools for the execution of unspecified training.
In A separate contribution This week Doge called out the Ministry of Labor for allegedly licensing five cyber security programs for more than 20,000 users, although they only have around 15,000 employees. In the post office, the department also quoted 380 Microsoft 365 productivity software with zero users, installed only 30 of the 128 Microsoft teams conference rooms that have the IT license, as well as only 22 out of 129 Photoshop licenses. The post also referred to the mail that was not used for “VScode”, the short name for a completely free Microsoft tool for writing code. The company sells a paid alternative known as a visual studio.
Microsoft refused to comment. Adobe, who developed Photoshop, did not answer an inquiry to comment.
While Doge may not have presented a complete image of wasteful expenses, the federal government sometimes has difficulty managing the use of software licenses effectively. Numerous Watchdog Groups inside the government have found cases of wasteful expenditure on software in the past.
Members of the congress have been trying to get agencies to tackle the problem for years, says the former federal official. The reinforcement agency management and monitoring the software asset act, Or Samosa ActThe fact that the house passed with cross -party support last year, but stalled in the Senate, would have obliged the agencies to do what Doge is doing now: evaluate existing software contracts, consolidate licenses and receive better offers to keep the costs low. The legislation aimed at lending agencies more negotiating power over them Handful of large technology companies According to the former official, this dominates the state software contract contract.
“If Elon (Musk) wanted to do this right, they would work with the congress to say goodbye to the Samosa law,” says the official. “People who will be there even when Doge leaves can conclude more intelligent, cheaper contracts. You should set a repeatable process in which agencies constantly re -rate their software requirements and achieve better performance for lower costs. “
Triplette from the coalition for fair software licensing has attributed DOGE to testing license problems. “I know that there is a lot of concern about what Doge is doing, but this is an area that there is hope and possibility,” she says.
Other Federal Contracting experts and congress offices told cable This doge should not lose sight of larger goals while creating it after savings. There were 11 federal contract programs for information technologies that spent over 1 billion US dollars in the last financial year of the government, which ran from October 2023 to September 2024, as from an analysis by Deltek, whose Govwin IQ tool pursues the procurement. Contracts are often divided into smaller pieces, and under these task orders, over 1 billion US dollars have been issued for six individual task orders in recent years. You are guided by a Dell contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs and A Booz Allen Hamilton Agreement With the Pentagon.
