Ron Wyden, US Senator for Oregon, has proposed a new bill requiring the messaging and video conferencing tools used by the federal government to be interoperable.
Even if different vendors provide the tools, the bill notes that they should communicate with one another and adhere to strict security standards, including end-to-end encryption.
As shared with The Verge, a discussion draft of The Secure and Interoperable Government Collaboration Technology Act would mandate that a government user on Microsoft Teams could converse with an agency that leverages Zoom - for example.
Of course, the bill would only require such interoperability within government operations. Yet, if passed, it could further increase interoperability within the enterprise communications space.
Another benefit of the bill - according to Wyden - is challenging Microsoft’s reach across the federal government. That comes after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a report finding that the tech giant could have halted a Chinese hack on US government emails.
"It’s time to break the chokehold of big tech companies like Microsoft on government software, set high cybersecurity standards, and reap the many benefits of a competitive market,” said Wyden in a statement attached to the bill.
Vendor lock-in, bundling, and other anticompetitive practices result in the government spending vast sums of money on insecure software.
If passed, the bill would instruct the General Services Administration (GSA) to create a list of collaboration tech features that the government uses.
That list would likely include text messaging, video conferencing, audio calling, file sharing, live documenting, and other tools.
From there, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would develop a set of interoperability standards that cross each solution.
Such standards would include end-to-end encryption to safeguard government communications against foreign surveillance threats.
Yet, they must also ensure the government complies with federal record-keeping requirements.