Source Code Harmonization and Reuse in Information Technology Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, every year, Federal agencies spend billions of dollars purchasing software, including custom-developed code for websites, public databases, and mobile apps to improve the public's experience using government services. Too often, agencies keep custom-developed code for internal use rather than sharing it across the Federal Government with other agencies.

This can undermine interoperability, security efficiency, and certainly cost-effectiveness in the Federal Government's acquisition and use of software. The SHARE IT Act seeks to address these problems.

In 2016, President Obama released a Federal source code policy requiring the custom source code developed by or for the Federal Government be made available for reuse by all Federal agencies. Among other things, the policy required GSA to create code.gov to facilitate code sharing. As of 2019, code.gov featured more than 6,000 code bases from 26 different Federal agencies.

Despite this success, many of the 24 largest agencies required to post their custom-developed code inventory to code.gov under the policy still haven't done so, and the policy lacks an effective enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance.

To improve compliance and further unlock the benefits of sharing custom-built code, the SHARE IT Act would require agencies to list the custom code the purchaser produced and to share such code, either publicly, or governmentwide.

Among other things, it assigns agency chief information officers the responsibility of overseeing compliance with the act.

Mr. Speaker, I support the purpose of this bill, which is to promote innovation, collaboration, efficiency, and better value. However, as the administration has pointed out, it will require several key improvements before it can truly live up to its full promise.

Most importantly, Federal entities will need additional funding in order to effectively meet the new requirements of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage with the improvements aforementioned. We have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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