{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-peters-introduce-legislation-to-reform-it-management-systems-save-taxpayer-dollars", "Cassidy, Peters Introduce Legislation to Reform IT Management Systems, Save Taxpayer Dollars", "2015-12-09", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "LA", "Bill Cassidy", "C001075", "www.cassidy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced theMaking Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act of 2015to reform the federal governments management of information technology (IT) software licenses.The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that implementing oversight and management policies of federal software licenses saved a single agency$181 million tax dollars per year. If implemented, the MEGABYTE Act could yield billions in savings across the federal government\r\nBillions of taxpayer dollars could be saved if federal agencies keep track of what software they buy. Its irresponsible they dont do so already,said Dr. Cassidy.Tax dollars could be better used on our troops and our classrooms, not redundant software licenses.\r\nCongress has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and effectively,said Senator Peters.The federal government could potentially save billions of dollars every year by requiring better management of federal software license purchases. Im proud to help introduce this commonsense measure that will cut wasteful spending and save taxpayers money.\r\nThe legislation is a follow up to Dr. Cassidysletterto Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan on June 2, 2015 concerning federal agencies wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on the lack of management and the duplication of software licenses for these agencies.\r\nThe MEGABYTE Act saves tax dollars and cuts government waste through the following actions:\r\n\r\nThe OMB Director shall issue a directive requiring executive agencies to identify clear roles, responsibilities, and central oversight authority within the agency for managing enterprise software license agreements and commercial software licenses.\r\nAgencies will also establish a comprehensive inventory, including 80 percent of software license spending and enterprise licenses in the agency.\r\nRegularly track and maintain software licenses to assist the executive agency in implementing decisions throughout the software license management life cycle.\r\nAnalyze software usage and other data to make cost-effective decisions.\r\nProvide training relevant to software license management.\r\nEstablish goals and objectives of the software license management program of the agency.\r\nConsider the software license management life cycle phases, including the requisition, reception, deployment and maintenance, retirement, and disposal phases, to implement effective decision making and incorporate existing standards, processes, and metrics.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-peters-introduce-legislation-to-reform-it-management-systems-save-taxpayer-dollars"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4308621175587177, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}