The DOE and its facility contractors operate more than 110,000 desktop computers at various locations, running commercial off-the-shelf software that includes office automation, records management, document imaging and antivirus products, the IG said in the report.
'Although the department had established several enterprise software agreements, we found that it had not adequately managed the acquisition and maintenance of desktop software computer licenses,' Friedman said.
In particular, he said that seven of 16 organizations in the department bought software through locally established agreements or contracts that were as much as 300 percent higher than those available through department-level agreements. Despite the potential for savings, enterprise agreements for common products such as security and antivirus software were not established. Friedman also said that various agencies bought encryption software licenses, paid annual maintenance fees but never used them.
'Despite pressure from the Office of Management and Budget and known best practices of other organizations, the [Energy] Department had not developed complex-wide standards for desktop software, implemented a common method for acquiring such software and did not require organizations to actively manage their inventory of existing licenses,' the IG said.
As an example, Friedman said Brookhaven National Laboratory paid between $248 and $573 per license for two separate versions of the same office automation product -- even though it was available through a department-level agreement for $176 per license. And Sandia National Laboratories paid $292 for a particular version of a popular imaging package, even though it could have been purchased through the department's agreement for only $90.
In addition, Friedman said that most agencies did not effectively track their software licenses and related use. Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory acknowledged that they could have saved at least $800,000 by more effectively managing software acquisition and maintenance.
In another example, the inspector general said that approximately 38,000 encryption software licenses were bought for use at five DOE offices. But more than a third of them, or 14,000, weren't used. But over a five-year period, some of the agencies paid maintenance fees totalling more than $625,000 on the unused licenses, he said.
The inspector general also found that DOE agencies negotiated 11 separate purchase deals for the department's most commonly used encryption software at prices ranging from $70 to $208 per license. But the vendor for the product said the department could have saved $630,000 a year in maintenance costs alone if it had simply negotiated a department-level enterprise agreement.
'Such an agreement could also likely match or exceed the lowest price observed, potentially saving $138 per license,' Friedman said in the report. 'When applied to the existing universe of desktops in use across the department, such savings could be significant.'
Friedman recommended that the DOE develop and implement a formal policy for ensuring that all software purchases are coordinated between headquarters and its various agencies and labs; implement agency-wide desktop software standards and consistent processes for acquiring such software; and ensure that labs and agencies design and implement asset management systems to track software license inventories and the use of existing licenses.
Officials at the DOE could not be reached for comment. But in a written response that was included in Friedman's report, Adrian Gardner, the DOE's deputy CIO, said his office concurred with the IG's findings and recommendations and indicated that steps have already been taken to address the problems -- including efforts to renegotiate and consolidate software license agreements for a common office automation suite.