1776Reporting
The federal government has been throwing away millions on software licenses that no one is even using, an audit revealed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is among the worst offenders, with thousands of paid licenses sitting idle.
A recent post by DOGE on X exposed just how bad the waste is. According to the findings, HUD had paid for 11,020 Adobe Acrobat licenses—yet not a single employee was using them. And that’s just one example.
The report also revealed that HUD was sitting on:
- 35,855 ServiceNow licenses, but only 84 were in use
- 1,776 Cognos licenses, with only 325 active users
- 800 WestLaw Classic licenses, but just 216 in use
- 10,000 Java licenses, but only 400 being utilized
“All are being fixed,” DOGE stated in its post, signaling that changes were coming.
Government Software Bloat: Millions Wasted on Unused Licenses
The problem isn’t just limited to HUD. DOGE found that many government agencies are buying more software than they need—and wasting taxpayer money in the process.
“There are vast numbers of unused software licenses in every part of the government. Your tax dollars are being wasted,” Elon Musk commented on the DOGE post.
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
DOGE further explained the issue, pointing out that agencies often have more software licenses than employees and many remain completely unused. One particularly egregious case? The General Services Administration (GSA), which has 13,000 employees but had paid for:
- 37,000 WinZip licenses
- 19,000 training software subscriptions—spread across multiple overlapping platforms
- 7,500 project management software seats for a department with just 5,500 employees
- Three separate ticketing systems running at the same time
Action Taken After DOGE Exposes Waste
The backlash was swift. In response to the audit, GSA’s X account posted a blunt reply: “Not for long…” followed by a scissor emoji, hinting that cuts were on the way.
Within three hours of DOGE’s findings going public, GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian announced immediate action.
“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,” Ehikian stated.
Just days later, DOGE provided an update, revealing that GSA had already made massive cuts:
“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.”
A GSA spokesperson confirmed these cuts in a statement to Fox News Digital, emphasizing that the agency is reviewing contracts and resources to align with the administration’s efficiency goals. “GSA has taken immediate action to fully implement all current executive orders and is committed to taking swift action to implement any new executive orders,” the statement read.
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
How Much More Waste Is Out There?
While GSA is now cleaning house, the problem extends far beyond just one agency. If HUD and GSA have been wasting millions on unused software, how many other departments are guilty of the same?
Taxpayers deserve answers—and DOGE’s investigation suggests there’s a lot more fat to trim. The question now is: Will other agencies follow GSA’s lead and start cutting their own waste?
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