[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6654 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6654
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to establish and implement a comprehensive policy for
managing software assets throughout the Department, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 11, 2025
Ms. Mace introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to establish and implement a comprehensive policy for
managing software assets throughout the Department, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Affairs Management and
Oversight of Software Assets Act of 2025'' or the ``VAMOSA Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT-WIDE SOFTWARE ASSET MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR THE
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 38, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 534. Department-wide software asset management policy
``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall ensure coordination
between the Chief Information Officer and such other officers as the
Secretary considers appropriate to establish and implement a
comprehensive policy for managing software assets.
``(b) Minimum Elements.--The policy required by subsection (a)
shall, at a minimum, provide for the following:
``(1) Maintaining a comprehensive inventory of software
assets.
``(2) Assessing interoperability and license restrictions
with respect to those assets.
``(3) Identifying and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse,
including by regularly comparing the inventory maintained under
paragraph (1) against purchase records, subscription records,
vendor billing records, and contract files to identify
discrepancies, over-procurement, redundant purchases,
unauthorized use, and under-utilized licenses.
``(4) Requiring that the Chief Information officer
coordinate with the relevant officials in the Department
regarding any significant acquisition of a software asset.
``(5) Adopting cost-effective licensing strategies,
including enterprise-wide agreements where practicable.
``(6) Measuring and enforcing compliance with license
terms.
``(c) Reviews and Updates.--Not less than once every three years,
the Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the Chief Financial
Officer and any other appropriate officials of the Department, or their
designees, shall review and update the policy.
``(d) Training.--The Secretary shall ensure that each employee
responsible for acquiring, managing, or implementing software assets
receives training no less often than annually on matters relevant to
their duties, including such matters as--
``(1) negotiating contract terms to minimize vendor-imposed
restrictions on deployment, data access, and transferability;
``(2) the differences between acquiring commercial software
and custom software development; and
``(3) evaluating cost models for seat-based, consumption-
based, enterprise, or scalable license structures.
``(e) Use of Existing Resources.--This section shall be implemented
using existing personnel, systems, and funds. This section does not
authorize additional appropriations or the establishment of a new
program, office, or organizational entity.
``(f) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall include, in the annual
report submitted to Congress under section 529 of this title--
``(1) a description of any substantive updates to the
policy made during the preceding year; and
``(2) an estimate of cost savings realized from
implementation of the policy during the preceding year.
``(g) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `comprehensive inventory of software
assets'--
``(A) includes--
``(i) the comprehensive inventory of
software licenses required by section
2(b)(2)(A) of the Making Electronic Government
Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies
Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-210; 40 U.S.C.
11302 note) and any directive issued by the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
under that Act; and
``(ii) a comprehensive inventory of all
other software assets (as defined in this
section); and
``(B) reflects all accounts, subscriptions,
tenants, deployments, and associated license or usage
entitlements.
``(2) The term `software asset' means any software,
software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, cloud-based service,
platform service, or application programming interface (API)
service for which the Department incurs a cost to acquire,
license, subscribe, operate, or maintain, whether hosted on
Government-managed or vendor-managed infrastructure. The term
includes any associated software license, subscription, usage
right, seat entitlement, capacity allocation, or consumption-
based entitlement that governs access to or use of such
software functionality.
``(h) Sunset.--The requirements and authorities of this section
shall terminate on the date that is five years after the date of the
enactment of the VAMOSA Act.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section
533 the following new item:
``534. Department-wide software asset management policy.''.
(c) GAO Report.--Not later than three years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a report evaluating--
(1) the Department's implementation of section 534 of title
38, United States Code, as added by this section;
(2) the cost savings achieved and duplication reduced; and
(3) the degree of operational independence and conflict
avoidance in any contractor support used to perform inventory
management or entitlement reconciliation.
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