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Today, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared at the start of the subcommittee’s oversight hearing on what needs to be done to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) software license management and ensure taxpayer dollars are saved.

Good afternoon. The Subcommittee will come to order.  

We are here today to talk about software license management,   

An issue that affects every veteran who expects VA to function efficiently, securely, and transparently.  

VA spends over a billion dollars on software licenses every year and the Department has never done a good job managing it all.  

Without good data, VA has no way of knowing how much money they are wasting on duplicative or unnecessary licenses.

In some ways, software licenses are a lot like library cards.  

Just like a library card allows you to check out books from a library, a software license gives you access to the software product.

Each library represents a different software product and VA purchases software licenses, or library cards, for their employees to use that product.   

VA purchases hundreds of thousands of library cards for thousands of different libraries every year.   

VA simply cannot make smart decisions about how many software licenses they buy if they don’t have complete and accurate data.  

At the most fundamental level – VA needs to understand what licenses they own and whether they are being used.   

GAO published a report last year with several alarming findings about the state of software license management at VA.  

VA could not explain what they paid for specific software products that are bundled into a single licensing agreement because the costs for each individual product are not broken out.   

VA could not track whether the licenses they purchased for their most widely used software licenses are actually being used.  

They can track some of them, but not all.  

VA is not able to compare software license usage to purchase records so they can have the information they need to negotiate better deals and identify cost savings.   

This is basic information that any organization needs to make sure they are buying the right licenses, for the right number of people, at a fair price.   

I understand that VA has made some progress resolving these issues, and I expect to hear more about that from our VA witnesses during this hearing.   

GAO and other organizations have has been calling out the federal government’s problems with software license management for over a decade.  

As long as this problem is unresolved, there will be waste and inefficiencies.    

Earlier this year, the Federal C.I.O. asked each agency to submit inventories of the software licenses they purchased from the five largest software vendors in the federal government.   

I reviewed VA’s response last week.  

For tens of millions of dollars’ worth of licenses, VA wrote that the license usage and quantities were “unknown”.  

It is clear that VA still has a long way to go.   

VA was supposed to produce a full inventory of all software licenses by the end of April. I still haven’t seen it.

I recognize that this problem wasn’t created in one day and it won’t be solved in one day either.    

I believe that VA wants to get this right, and I am committed to working with the new administration on finding a solution.   

I applaud the Trump Administration’s efforts to put a stop to this wasteful spending on software licensing by reviewing VA and other agencies’ software inventories.  

President Trump’s executive order consolidating aspects of IT procurement in the General Services Administration is another step in the right direction.  

But let me be clear:  

Consolidation alone will not solve the problem.   

Agencies must be responsible and accountable.   

A must maintain an accurate software inventory and keep track of what licenses are being used.   

They must track license usage in real time, analyze performance data, and hold vendors accountable.  

These aren’t lofty ideals. These are basic good business practices.  

So today, I want to focus on three things:  

First, what is preventing VA from keeping a full and accurate inventory of their software licenses that has clear price breakdowns and tracks usage?  

Second, how has software mismanagement impacted broader tech modernization efforts?  

Lastly, what can Congress do to help make sure that VA is not wasting valuable resources on software licenses that could be spent on veterans?   

At the end of the day, every unused or duplicative software license that VA pays for isn’t just a line item, it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and a missed opportunity.   

An upgrade that never happened, a fix that got delayed, a veteran waiting longer for the care they have earned.  

Let’s change that.   

With that, I yield to Ranking Member Budzinski for her opening statement.