If enterprise corporations actually did a throughout investigation, they would probably find that a lot of their license deals have gone unfulfilled. They are really bad about this kind of stuff. It became super complicated to buy this kind of software once companies realized that they could force everything though a deal desk and try to extract as much money out of the government as possible.

We have had companies outright refuse to even give us a price when we told them we wanted to investigate buying a license. Such a PITA.

The acquisition and procurement departments in many government agencies are often “independent” in that they don’t directly report to the agency. They’re more like compliance people that make sure you’re completing with the procurement laws and regulations.

And unpaid software licenses are a violation.

Now maybe the client in this case may have had some kind if ownership clause, etc. but in general, procurement people tend to be pretty neutral in my experience.

Then again, over only dealt with small contracts (< $500k)

Practically the federal government shouted, Neener neener neener! Rules for thee but not for meeeeeee!

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/08/air-force-cracks...