Agency software purchasing bill reintroduced by House Oversight members; SSA swaps out DOGE staffers as CIO

A bipartisan group of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members reintroduced a bill Thursday that aims to overhaul federal software purchasing for better efficiency and reduced costs. The Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act would make agencies conduct “comprehensive” software inventories and undergo independent assessments of management practices and contracts.The legislation, which is backed by several leading software trade groups, would also require agency chief information officers to create a plan to adopt enterprise licensing agreements in order to improve costs and negotiating power against vendors. Additionally, the Office of Management and Budget would have to publish a governmentwide strategy for software modernization based on audits and plans. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who introduced the bill with Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., April McClain Delaney, D-Md., and Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said in a statement that the government spends money on software that “it doesn’t need, doesn’t use or already has.”

The Trump administration’s council of federal CIOs has so far been much like a carousel at some agencies, with officials who frequently associated with DOGE coming in and out of the top tech role. The Social Security Administraiton is the latest such agency to trade out one DOGE staffer for another. The Social Security Administration has tapped a DOGE associate named Scott Coulter as its new chief information officer, replacing another member of the Elon Musk-led group who spent a little more than a month in the role. Coulter, a Harvard graduate with a background in investment management, was added to SSA’s org chart this week as CIO. Mike Russo, who started as the agency’s top IT official Feb. 3, according to an SSA spokesperson, is now listed as senior advisor to the commissioner.

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