President Joe Biden has signed the Source Code Harmonization And Reuse in Information Technology (SHARE IT) Act into law, marking a major shift in how federal agencies handle custom-developed software code.
The bipartisan legislation aims to reduce the estimated $12 billion annual federal spending on software purchases by requiring agencies to share custom-developed code with each other. This new approach seeks to eliminate redundant software development contracts where agencies unknowingly commission code that already exists within other departments.
Under the new law, agency Chief Information Officers must develop implementation policies within 180 days. These policies will need to:
- Align custom-developed code with best practices
- Create processes for making code metadata publicly available
- Establish standardized reporting procedures
The required metadata will include details about the code's development, such as whether it was created under contract, the contract number, and links to code repositories.
The law includes important exceptions, excluding classified code, national security systems, and code that could pose privacy risks if shared.
The legislation received strong backing from both political parties, with sponsors including Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), along with Representatives Nicholas Langworthy (R-N.Y.) and William Timmons (R-S.C.). Major software companies like Atlassian and GitLab Inc. also supported the initiative.
The SHARE IT Act passed both chambers of Congress with overwhelming support in December, reflecting broad agreement on the need to improve efficiency in federal software development and reduce duplicative spending.