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Senator presents bill to prevent vendor lock-in for public software purchases
Summary
Sen. Jesse Kiel told the House Labor and Commerce Committee SB 258 would let public procurers decide where to run generally available software (on‑premises or in the cloud) based on standard criteria, not vendor requirements; committee set an amendment deadline and took no final action.
Sen. Jesse Kiel (Senate District B) opened the committee's consideration of SB 258 by saying the measure seeks to prevent software vendors from dictating whether public purchasers must run software in a vendor cloud or on the purchaser's premises. "The decision ... whether to run that in the software company's cloud or their competitors' cloud is up to any public procurer buying that software," Kiel told the committee, adding that public entities should make hosting decisions based on price, quality, security and other IT concerns.
Lawmakers asked how the bill fits with Alaska's procurement code (AS 36). Kiel said the procurement code already generally requires competitive processes and notices and that the bill is focused specifically on public procurement dynamics and preventing contractual lock‑in. Representative Kerrick and others asked whether the bill mirrors private-sector practices; Kiel responded that public procurement differs from private contracting and that the bill aims to keep the choice in the hands of the purchasing government entity.
Cochair Hall set an amendment deadline for SB 258 of Tuesday, May 12 at 5 p.m. The committee did not take a vote on the bill and moved on to other agenda items.
