The legislation, introduced on Thursday by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., would direct the VA secretary "to establish and implement a comprehensive policy for managing software assets throughout the Department." These steps include requiring VA to create a departmentwide software inventory and purge duplicative or inefficient services. "Major software acquisitions" would also be coordinated by the chief information officer, and the department would be directed to "adopt cost-effective licensing strategies, including enterprise-wide agreements where appropriate."
SAMOSA is mostly focused on trying to fix "software asset management deficiencies" as well as requiring more "automation of software license management processes and incorporation of discovery tools," issues that enterprises also have to deal with. In addition, it requires anyone involved in software acquisition and development to be trained in the agency's policies and, more usefully, in negotiation of contract terms, especially those that put restrictions on software deployment and use.