Panel hears bill to bar software vendor 'lock-in' for public agencies

House Bill 913, presented as a "good government" measure, would prohibit certain contractual terms in future software agreements that the sponsor said create vendor "lock-in" and limit a public customer's ability to select hosting, cloud or ancillary services.

Representative Fleming, presenting the bill, said the measure protects public-sector procurement flexibility and saves taxpayer dollars by preserving competitive options. "This bill prohibits software vendors from placing into software contracts terms that limit a customer's choice on what the vendors they use for additional technology services like cloud computing," Fleming said, adding it applies only to future contracts.

Scott Drexel of the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing testified that procurement officials and IT leaders have repeatedly found buried restrictions in vendor terms that increase long-term costs. "When they think they're buying software, they actually find out down the road that they're being locked into buying goods and services above and beyond what they think they're getting," Drexel said, and urged lawmakers to free central IT leaders to select environments for reasons including cybersecurity and cost.

A member asked whether the bill applies to all state agencies; the sponsor said yes, listing departments, entities, boards, commissions, county and municipal corporations and school systems. No formal vote was recorded; committee members did not object to advancing the discussion.