Pentagon Buys Software Data Rights in Outdated, Costly Manner

Congress is eyeing tweaks to how it handles federal contracting data rights as internal dysfunction increasingly costs the government time, money, and vendor relationships.

When contractors retain rights over the data and code underpinning the software they sell to the government, they can end up locking in an agency long-term, limiting its ability to explore alternate solutions.

The prominence of software in acquisitions—particularly in artificial intelligence and machine learning projects—is putting added strains on the system.

A pilot program to test new ways to negotiate software date rights with contractors is part of the House Armed Services Committee’s chairman’s mark ...