Avoidable Software Procurements

Abstract

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) spends billions of dollars a year in acquiring software of which a great deal never gets used. Although a large portion of that software is sole source, a considerable savings may be had in development of a check-in/check-out (CICO) system for software. Such a system could be likened to a library or a video-rental model. The purpose of this Joint Applied Project (JAP) was to explore and offer a broad examination of the cost of commercial software usage in the United States Department of Defense. Through an analysis of cost usage data, we propose that potential significant cost savings in commercial software procurement can be accomplished through a check-in/check-out (CICO) system.