DOGE, President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has uncovered the fact that taxpayers have been paying for thousands of unnecessary computer software licenses.
And the work to cancel and end them already is under way.
HUD completed the same audit. Initial findings on paid software licenses:
– 35,855 ServiceNow licenses on three products; only using 84
– 11,020 Acrobat licenses with zero users
– 1,776 Cognos licenses; only using 325
– 800 WestLaw Classic licenses; only using 216
– 10,000 Java… https://t.co/xnY8TkLmM3— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 6, 2025
Since this post, @USGSA took immediate action to reduce IT spend by deleting 114,163 unused software licenses & 15 underutilized / redundant software products — for a total annual savings of $9.6M. https://t.co/xnY8TkLmM3
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 28, 2025
A report from Fox News noted the 11,020 Adobe Acrobat licenses in the Department of Housing and Urban Development – with zero users.
There also were 35,855 ServiceNow licenses on three products, and only 84 were being used. And 1,776 Cognos licenses, with only 325 being used.
Of the 800 WestLaw Classic licenses, 216 were used, and there were only 400 users for 10,000 Java licenses.
DOGE chief Elon Musk explained, “There are vast numbers of unused software licenses in every part of the government. Your tax dollars are being wasted.”
The announcement follows similar investigation results from the General Services Administration, Department of Labor, Small Business Administration, and Social Security Administration.
“Agencies often have more software licenses than employees, and the licenses are often idle (i.e. paid for, but not installed on any computer),” DOGE said on social media. “For example, at GSA, with 13,000 employees, there are 37,000 WinZip licenses,” “19,000 training software subscriptions (and multiple parallel training software platforms),” “7,500 project management software seats for a division with 5,500 employees,” “3 different ticketing systems running in parallel.”
The statement confirmed, “Fixes are actively in work.”
GSA spokesman Stephen Ehikian replied, “Hope we didn’t make you wait too long… within 3 hours of @DOGE post, @USGSA is taking immediate action to reduce $5.5M of IT spend & working to identify additional reductions across all categories—ensuring strong stewardship of your tax dollars.”
