The Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016

Citation

The Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016 (MEGABYTE Act), Pub. L. No. 114-210, 130 Stat. 824 (2016).

Overview

The Act required the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue a directive on the management of software licenses by the U.S. federal government. The directive required the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of each federal agency to develop a comprehensive software licensing policy covering roles in relation to software license management, an inventory of software licenses held by the agency, an analysis of software usage and agency goals covering the use of software within the agency.

In accordance with the Act's requirements, OMB published OMB Memorandum M-16-12: Category Management Policy 16-1: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Software Licensing.

This established the Enterprise Software Category Team (ESCT), co-managed by the GSA, DoD and OMB. It required agencies to appoint a Software Manager for the entire agency. It requires a continual agency-wide inventory of software licenses, ongoing analysis of license utilization, and reporting of cost savings/avoidance made possible by this policy.