Austin News

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) have introduced bipartisan legislation called the Source Code Harmonization And Reuse in Information Technology (SHARE IT) Act. This act aims to require government agencies to share custom-developed source code with each other, in order to avoid duplicative government contracts for software development.

According to Sen. Cruz, federal agencies spend billions of dollars each year on software that may be duplicative because it is not shared between agencies. He stated, "I am glad to join Chairman Peters in introducing this common-sense solution that will save taxpayer funds by holding federal agencies accountable for sharing the code they procure."

Chairman Peters also emphasized the benefits of sharing code across agencies, stating that it will save taxpayers money, increase digital efficiency for government services, strengthen security, and enable innovation in software. He believes that this bipartisan bill is a critical step forward in advancing the digital capacity of the federal government and will benefit Americans as they access government services online.

Currently, the federal government spends approximately $12 billion annually on purchasing software, including custom-developed software for agencies. However, despite the existence of an infrastructure for sharing code, agencies do not make custom software available to one another. This lack of sharing leads to duplicative government contracts and unnecessary spending when agencies hire contractors to reproduce code that another agency has already procured.

The SHARE IT Act aims to address this inefficiency by requiring agencies to publicly list the custom code they make or buy and share it with the rest of the government. The legislation also ensures transparency by mandating agencies to publicly list their custom code. Exceptions are made for code related to national security systems, classified code, or code that poses a risk to individual privacy if disclosed.

Importantly, the SHARE IT Act does not require any additional funding, as agencies already have the means to share code through existing government infrastructure and tools like code.gov, Git, GitHub, or Bitbucket.

This legislation is a significant step towards improving and updating federal source code policy. It promotes accountability, efficiency, and cost savings by encouraging collaboration and sharing among government agencies. By avoiding duplicative contracts and unnecessary spending, the SHARE IT Act will benefit taxpayers and enhance the digital capacity of the federal government.

To learn more about the SHARE IT Act, visit the official website. The full text of the act can be accessed here.