H.R. 5457 · Where this bill is now
In the Senate
Passed the House Dec 15, 2025. Received Dec 16, 2025; no Senate vote yet
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryFederal agencies must track and manage software spending
The government buys and uses a lot of software, but it's often unclear what programs agencies own, what they cost, and whether they work well together. This bill requires federal agencies and intelligence offices to take inventory of all their software, understand their contracts and costs, and create plans to use software more efficiently. The Office of Management and Budget then has to study how the government buys software overall and recommend ways to save money, improve how software works together, and manage it better.
How it affects you
If you work for a federal agency or in intelligence, you may notice changes in how your office buys and manages software. For most other Americans, the effect is indirect: more efficient government software spending could free up taxpayer money for other uses, though the summary doesn't detail specific impacts on everyday life.
Read the official summary (Introduced in House, Sep 18, 2025)
Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act
This bill requires federal agencies and Intelligence Community (IC) elements to assess their software inventory and develop software management plans.
The bill requires each agency and each IC element to complete a comprehensive assessment of the software paid for by, in use at, or deployed throughout the agency or element. The assessment must include information such as (1) the current inventory of software; (2) contracts and other arrangements used to acquire, build, deploy, or use the software; (3) costs and fees not included in the initial contract or agreement; and (4) the interoperability of the software and restrictions on its use.
Each agency and IC element must use their assessment to develop a plan to consolidate software entitlements, develop procedures for cost-effective acquisition strategies, and restrict subordinate entities from using any software entitlement without approval. (A software entitlement is software that has been purchased, leased, or licensed by or billed to an agency and that is subject to use limitations.) Such plans must be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congress.
Within two years of enactment, OMB must submit recommendations to Congress regarding government software procurement policies and practices to
• increase the interoperability of software licenses;
• consolidate licenses when appropriate;
• reduce costs;
• improve performance; and
• modernize the management and oversight of agency software.
The GAO must report on certain related topics, including governmentwide trends in agency software asset management practices and comparisons of such practices among agencies.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionH. R. 5457
AN ACT
Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act
Sponsor: Rep. Shontel M. Brown (D-OH-11) · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Government Operations and Politics · 3 versions of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Dec 16, 2025: “Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.”