How the Government Spends 60 Billion a Year on Unused Software Licenses

The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending · Jul 23, 2026 · 8m · transcript

Every year, federal agencies collectively spend an estimated $60 billion on software licenses that nobody uses. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found the Department of Defense alone pays for 4.2 million unused licenses across Adobe, Microsoft, and Salesforce products. They trace the problem back to a simple procurement rule called 'enterprise licensing,' which encourages agencies to buy site-wide access rather than track actual usage. The hosts contrast this with how private-sector companies like Capital One and Walmart…