Because agencies sometimes get bulk or government-specific discounts, it can also be more affordable to buy software licenses on behalf of their private contractors. “It’s a very clear way for agencies to manage costs,” the ex-official says.
Every government agency has its own unique structure, including many subagencies or units, each with their own software needs. That could help explain other alleged licensing issues DOGE called out this week, including that GSA has “3 different ticketing systems running in parallel” and multiple tools for running unspecified trainings.
In a separate post this week, DOGE called out the Department of Labor for allegedly licensing five cybersecurity programs, each for more than 20,000 users, despite having only about 15,000 employees. The post also cited the department holding 380 Microsoft 365 productivity software licenses with zero users, installing only 30 out of the 128 Microsoft Teams conference rooms it licensed, and using only 22 out of 129 Photoshop licenses. The post also referenced unused licenses for “VSCode,” the shorthand name for an entirely free Microsoft tool for writing code; the company does sell a paid alternative known as Visual Studio.
Microsoft declined to comment. Adobe, which develops Photoshop, did not respond to a request to comment.
While DOGE may have failed to present a full picture of wasteful spending, it’s true that the federal government has at times struggled to effectively manage its use of software licenses. Numerous watchdog groups inside the government have found instances of wasteful spending on software in the past.
Members of Congress have been trying for years to get agencies to address the issue, the former federal official says. The Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act, or SAMOSA Act, which passed the House last year with bipartisan support but stalled in the Senate, would have required agencies to do what DOGE is doing now: Assess existing software contracts, consolidate licenses where possible, and get better deals to keep costs down. The legislation aimed to give agencies more bargaining power over the handful of big tech firms that dominate government software contracting, according to the former official.
“If Elon [Musk] wanted to do this the right way, they would work with Congress to pass the SAMOSA Act,” the official says. “So people who will be there even when DOGE leaves can enter into smarter, less expensive contracts. They should be setting a repeatable process whereby agencies will constantly reevaluate their software needs and get better performance for lower costs.”
Triplette, of the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, credited DOGE for examining licensing issues. “I know there is a lot of concern about what DOGE is doing, but this is one area that there is hope and possibility,” she says.
Other federal contracting experts and congressional offices have told WIRED that DOGE should not lose sight of bigger targets while scrounging for savings. There were 11 federal contracting programs for information technology that each accounted for over $1 billion in spending during the government’s last fiscal year, which ran from October 2023 through September 2024, according to an analysis for WIRED by Deltek, whose GovWin IQ tool tracks procurement. Contracts are often broken up into smaller pieces, and among those task orders, over $1 billion has been spent on six individual task orders related to IT over the past few years. They are led by a Dell deal with the Department of Veterans Affairs and a Booz Allen Hamilton agreement with the Pentagon.