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H.R. 4904, MEGABYTE Act of 2016 1 (April 28, 2016)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo2911 and id is 1 raw text is: 



                   CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

a                             COST ESTIMATE
                                                                   April 28, 2016


                                  H.R. 4904
                          MEGABYTE Act of 2016

  As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
                                on April 14, 2016


H.R. 4904 would amend federal laws related to managing the federal government's
licenses for information technology software. The bill would require the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to issue a directive to each federal agency to develop a
comprehensive policy for software licensing including a complete inventory of software
licenses and to develop a mechanism to track, maintain, and analyze software use.

Most of the provisions of the bill would codify and expand current policies and practices
of the federal government. OMB has reported that agencies spent about $9 billion in 2015
on software licenses. The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act
(FITARA) recently directed agencies to acquire and manage software in a more
coordinated way. In addition, the Enterprise Software Category Team, managed by the
General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, and OMB, is developing
government-wide agreements for obtaining software licenses. Because such efforts to
better manage software licenses are already underway, CBO estimates that the bill would
not substantially change those efforts, and that implementing H.R. 4904 would have no
significant net impact on the federal budget over the next five years. The bill could affect
direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-
you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net change in spending by
those agencies would not be significant. Enacting H.R. 4904 would not affect revenues.

Some agencies have reported that they have spent less to acquire software by more
effectively analyzing data on software licenses and the Government Accountability
Office expects that there is the potential for even greater savings government-wide
through more efficient spending to acquire software. CBO expects that by improving
software purchasing decisions implementing H.R. 4904 could lead to lower federal costs.
However, we expect most of the savings in this area will probably be achieved through
current efforts to make cost effective decisions when acquiring software.

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4904 would not significantly increase net direct
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning
in 2027.

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