Asato for the public sector

Q: We already keep an inventory. What does Asato add?

Use, a price and an owner. An inventory says what you hold. Asato matches it to your purchase records and to who is using each item, counts each asset once, and puts a yearly price and an owner on every item you can stop paying for.

Q: Do we keep what we stop spending?

Your budget rules decide. Asato reports three separate figures. Found is what it identified. Approved is what a named person signed off. Saved is what came off the bill, agreed jointly by you and Asato at the close of the engagement. Whether a reduction counts as a saving or as a cost avoided, and where the money goes, follows your own budget rules.

Asato answers, from an agency's own records, the three questions an audit already asks about its technology: what the agency holds, who is using it, and what should change. Asato's AI agents match purchase records to the lists the agency keeps and to real use, put a yearly price and an owner on each item that is paid for and not used, and carry out a fix only after a person the agency names approves it. The page is written for US federal, state and local government and other public agencies. Every figure in its product screens is example data, and the facts it cites about government are from laws, audits and guidance, each named and linked.

Headline on the visual page: "Pay for what is needed." The sentence under it: "What your agency bought, what is in use and what is needed, before the next renewal."

When to use it

An auditor, an inspector general or a legislature has asked what the agency holds and whether it is used, and the answer takes weeks to assemble.
The budget, the purchase order and the invoice each record a purchase, and no record says who uses what was bought.
An agreement is signed centrally and used by many offices, so the office that holds the bill does not hold the usage record.
A large agreement renews in the coming months and nobody can say how many licenses are still needed.
The agency wants each change approved by a named official, with a record of who approved what.

Not a fit

Legal or audit advice. Asato describes what its records show. It does not say whether an agency meets a law, a regulation or an audit recommendation.
Negotiating with a vendor. Asato does not negotiate. The buyer negotiates, with Asato's count in hand.
Replacing an asset register, a CMDB, a contract system or a finance system. Asato reads from the systems an agency already runs.
Changing anything without a person approving. Nothing changes until a named person approves it.

The job in one line

Know what was bought, what is in use and what is needed, from the agency's own records.

The problem: public money is tracked until it becomes a seat

Section heading on the visual page: "The trail stops at the purchase." The line under it: "Public money is tracked until it becomes a seat."

A public purchase leaves a trail of records. The budget records what was approved. The purchase order records what was ordered. The invoice records what was paid. After that the money is a license, a device or a subscription, and in most agencies no record says who uses it.

The duty to answer that question is already written down, and audits have asked it. Each fact below is from a named outside source, not from Asato.

Federal law, 2016. Since 2016, federal law has required agency chief information officers to inventory software licenses, track them and analyze their use. The law is the MEGABYTE Act of 2016, Public Law 114-210. Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-114publ210/html/PLAW-114publ210.htm
GAO, January 2024. The Government Accountability Office reviewed nine large federal agencies, chosen for the size of their IT budgets. None of the nine had fully determined whether their five most used software licenses were over- or under-purchased. Report GAO-24-105717, "Federal Software Licenses: Agencies Need to Take Action to Achieve Additional Savings". The report gives no dollar total of unused federal licenses, and this page gives none. Source: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-105717
Michigan Auditor General, July 2022. Michigan's technology department tracked license entitlements for 181 of about 3,200 commercially licensed applications on state workstations and servers, which is 6%. Report 071-0527-22, "Software License Management". Source: https://audgen.michigan.gov/complete-projects/software-license-management/

The page gives no legal advice, and Asato does not make an agency compliant with any law or audit recommendation. Asato supplies the counts.

Three questions an audit already asks

The frame is three counts: bought, in use, needed. Each is a question, and Asato answers all three from the agency's own records.

What do you hold? (bought) Asato reads what was bought from purchase records and matches it to the license records and asset lists the agency keeps, so each asset is counted once. Each line carries a yearly price and the office that owns it.
- Link: purchase records, license records and asset lists are matched, so each asset is counted once.
- Think: each line gets its yearly price and the office that owns it.
- Execute: each owner checks its lines, and Asato keeps the record current between audits.
- Outside fact: an audit of New York State's Office of Information Technology Services found 17,887 devices that staff could not locate and had marked absent in the inventory. New York State Comptroller, report 2023-S-17, "Inventory Controls", February 2025. Source: https://www.osc.ny.gov/state-agencies/audits/2025/02/14/inventory-controls
- Goes deeper: Stop paying for idle hardware for hardware and its support contracts, and Rationalize your portfolio for applications that do the same job.
Who is using it? (in use) Asato matches sign-in records to each license and to the office that holds it, sorts each license by 90 days of use, and prices each one that is not in use.
- Link: sign-in records are matched to each license and to the office that holds it.
- Think: each license is sorted by 90 days of use, and each one not in use is priced.
- Execute: each office's list goes to its owner. Nothing changes yet.
- Outside fact: an audit of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority found no central system to manage what its software licenses cost and how far they are used. WMATA Office of Inspector General, report OIG 24-09, "Audit of WMATA's Software Licensing Management", June 2024. Source: https://wmataoig.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Audit-of-WMATAs-Software-Licensing-Management-IG-Final.pdf
- Outside fact, on AI: federal guidance on buying AI asks agencies to check at intervals whether each AI system is worth what it costs to run. OMB memorandum M-25-22, "Driving Efficient Acquisition of Artificial Intelligence in Government", April 2025. Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/M-25-22-Driving-Efficient-Acquisition-of-Artificial-Intelligence-in-Government.pdf
- Goes deeper: Right-size software for licenses, and Control AI spend for AI seats and metered AI usage.
What changes, and who approves it? (needed) Low use is not proof of no need. Before Asato recommends anything, it takes out the people and systems the agency's policy protects. Each fix that is left goes to its owner with a yearly price and a date to decide by, and the owner can keep the item. A person the agency names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind.
- Link: each agreement is tied to its renewal date, its usage and its owner.
- Think: the people and systems the agency's policy protects are taken out. Each fix that is left gets a price and a date to decide by.
- Execute: once a fix is approved, Asato reclaims the license in the source system, logs the change and keeps watching.
- Outside fact: GSA's draft guidance on software licensing asks federal agencies to review each license at least three months before it expires. General Services Administration, "Draft Guidance on Software Licensing Management", April 2026. The document is a draft. Source: https://www.gsa.gov/system/files/Software%20License%20Management%20and%20Tracking%20Draft%20Guidance_for%20Congress_508.pdf
- Goes deeper: Stay ahead of contracts for renewal dates and notice dates.

Nothing changes until a named person approves it. A person the customer names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind. Every change is logged.

The three steps under each question are the same three the platform runs everywhere. Link: the Asset Knowledge Graph links every asset, person, contract and cost into one record. Think: the Data Intelligence Engine turns the record into recommendations, each with a price and an owner. Execute: Agentic AI carries out the fixes a named person approves, and keeps watching. The platform page has the detail.

How savings are counted

A saving has three states, reported as three separate figures that are never added together. Found is what Asato identified. Approved is what a named person signed off. Saved is what came off the bill, agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement. Any other figure is labeled Measured.

Whether a reduction counts as a saving or as a cost avoided, and where the money goes, follows the agency's own budget rules. Asato does not say that an agency keeps what it stops spending.

Example data on the page

The product screens on the visual page show example data, not a customer result. One example agency is used throughout. It is invented and is not any real agency.

One software agreement: 12,000 licenses, bought centrally at $360 a license a year, which is $4,320,000 a year.
The trail of records: the budget shows $4,320,000 approved for the year, the purchase order shows 12,000 licenses ordered, and the invoice shows $4,320,000 paid in full. No record says who uses each license.
In use: 10,460 of the 12,000 licenses were active in 90 days. 1,540 were not, worth $554,400 a year. This is a Found figure.
By office, as licenses in use out of licenses held: Field operations 3,010 of 3,400, Health services 2,340 of 2,600, Public works 1,720 of 2,000, Licensing and permits 1,450 of 1,600, Finance 1,200 of 1,300, Central office 740 of 800. A further 300 licenses are assigned to nobody.
Protected: 360 of the 1,540 are protected by the agency's policy and are left alone.
For approval: the other 1,180, worth $424,800 a year. The IT asset manager approves the 300 assigned to nobody ($108,000 a year). The director of Field operations approves 240 ($86,400 a year). The directors of four other offices approve 450 ($162,000 a year). The director of Public works is sent 190 ($68,400 a year), approves 130 and keeps 60 for storm crews.
Approved: 1,120 licenses, worth $403,200 a year. Kept by an owner: 60. Needed at the renewal on June 30: 10,880 licenses, which is the 10,460 in use, the 360 protected and the 60 kept. In the example, the decision is due by March 31.
What the example agency holds, read from its purchase records and matched to its own lists: software licenses (12,000 bought, 11,700 on a list, $4,320,000 a year), paid applications (186 bought, 140 on a list, $1,940,000 a year), laptops and desktops (9,400 bought, 9,150 on a list, $1,128,000 a year of support), network and server hardware (640 bought, 610 on a list, $755,200 a year of support) and AI seats (2,000 bought, 2,000 on a list, $480,000 a year). In all, 626 items are on no list, $8,623,200 a year is held, and an owner is named on each of the five lines. These are Measured figures in the example, not savings.

Figures on the page, with their captions

Each figure on the visual page carries one caption. A caption takes no room on the page: it shows when a reader points at its figure, or taps the figure on a touch screen. The captions are given here in full. In a figure, a ring marks a Found figure and a dashed ring marks an Approved one. No figure on this page shows a Saved figure.

The figures move. Each one builds up once when the reader reaches it and then rests on its complete state. The first figure repeats: it builds the three counts in turn, rests on them and starts again, and its pause control stops it on the complete figure. For a reader who has asked for reduced motion, every figure shows its complete state at once. Every number in this file is the value a figure rests on.

One agreement, counted three ways (beside the headline). Example data: one agreement at an example agency: 12,000 licenses bought, 10,460 in use, 10,880 needed once policy and each owner have had their say. The $554,400 a year is found, not approved.
One agreement, as its records show it. Example data: one agreement at an example agency. The budget, the purchase order and the invoice each record the money. No record says which of the 12,000 licenses are in use. Each dot is 20 licenses.
What an audit asks of your technology. Asato's method: bought, in use and needed are three counts, and each one is a question Asato answers from your own records.
What you hold, counted once. Example data: five kinds of asset at an example agency, read from purchase records and matched to its own lists. 626 items are on no list. For hardware, the yearly price is its support.
One agreement, used by six offices. Example data: one agreement, bought centrally and used by six offices. 1,540 of its 12,000 licenses were not used in 90 days: $554,400 a year, found. Bars to scale: solid is in use, outlined is not.
The fixes, and who decides. Example data: of 1,540 licenses not in use, 360 are protected by policy and left alone. The owners approve 1,120 of the other 1,180, worth $403,200 a year, and one keeps 60. Found and Approved are separate figures and are never added together.

Under the second figure the page shows three facts from the public record, which are not example data: the federal law of 2016, GAO's finding of January 2024 and the Michigan Auditor General's finding of July 2022. Each is given with its source under "The problem" above.

Trust and governance

Section heading on the visual page: "Read-only by default." The line under it: "Write access where you grant it."

What Asato reads. Metadata: records about technology, such as licenses, devices, usage, sign-in activity and costs. Contracts and invoices are read only if the customer connects them. Asato never reads employees' documents, email or messages.
Access. Read-only by default, scoped by the customer and revocable at any time. Write access is added one system at a time, where the customer grants it. Nothing is installed on an endpoint.
Training. Customer data never trains any model.
Named approval. Nothing changes until a named person approves it, and every change is logged.
FedRAMP. Asato is listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as Legacy FedRAMP Ready, at the Moderate level. This is a readiness designation. It is not a FedRAMP certification or authorization. A federal agency still issues its own authorization to operate before it uses a cloud service. Asato's listing: https://www.fedramp.gov/marketplace/products/FR2620071868/
Why the label says Legacy. FedRAMP stopped accepting new FedRAMP Ready submissions on July 28, 2026 and lists the designation as Legacy FedRAMP Ready. Source: https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/timeline/
State and local agencies. The FedRAMP designation is federal. It does not stand in for a state's own security review or for any state program.
Certifications. SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and HITRUST e1, each independently certified. Scope, period and issuer for each are in the Asato Trust Center: https://trust.asato.ai

Works with

More than 100 tools, read-only, covering four kinds of record: users (identity and access systems), assets (asset lists, CMDB and device management), usage (sign-in activity, security and network logs) and cost (finance, procurement and contract systems).
The customer keeps every system it already runs. Nothing is migrated or replaced.

Compared with tools a buyer already owns

What the agency has	Where it stops	How Asato relates
An inventory or asset register	It says what the agency holds	Asato matches it to purchase records and to use, counts each asset once, and puts a yearly price and an owner on each item
A centrally negotiated agreement	It sets the price of a seat, not how many seats are needed	Asato supplies the count. Asato does not negotiate
A contract system or renewal calendar	It says when an agreement renews	Asato sets what is still used beside each date and prices each change

Who uses it

The visual page has no section by role. The roles this page answers:

CIO: is accountable, and holds the three counts with a named approver behind every change.
IT asset manager: runs it. Each asset is counted once, and the record stays current between audits.
Procurement: holds the agreements, and goes into a renewal with the count of what is in use.
Budget and finance officers: see Found, Approved and Saved as three separate figures.

How a customer starts

Section heading on the visual page: "Start before the next renewal." The line under it: "One area, read-only. Your Asset Clarity Report in one week." The one action beside them is "Get your Asset Clarity Report", at https://www.asato.ai/talk-to-sales. The small line under the button: "In government, the week starts once your own security review has cleared the connection."

The page now shows this section as one band: its title, its sub-title, the button and that small line. The steps are kept here for agents. The week runs in four steps:

Connect. Read-only access to the purchase, license and sign-in records the customer already keeps. Nothing is installed.
Model. Asato matches the records and counts each asset once.
Checkpoint. The customer's team checks the findings and names the people and systems policy protects.
Report. The customer holds its Asset Clarity Report: a priced list, with an owner on every item.

Each line in the report is Found, not Approved. A named person decides each line.

How a customer starts is also set out on the home page: https://www.asato.ai/index. This page makes no fee claim.

Questions

The page shows at most five questions, the ones that belong to it. Any others are kept here for agents.

We already keep an inventory. What does Asato add?

Use, a price and an owner. An inventory says what an agency holds. Asato matches it to the agency's purchase records and to who is using each item, counts each asset once, and puts a yearly price and an owner on every item the agency can stop paying for.

Our prices are negotiated centrally. What is left to find?

The count. A central agreement sets the price of a seat. It does not say how many seats an agency needs. Asato does not negotiate. It gives the agency the count: what is in use, what is not, and what each change is worth a year.

Will Asato remove something a program needs?

Not without approval. Nothing changes until a named person approves it. A person the customer names approves each fix, or sets a policy that governs fixes of that kind. Before Asato recommends anything, it takes out the people and systems the customer's policy protects. Low use is not proof of no need, so every other item goes to its owner with the usage behind it, and the owner can keep it. Every change is logged.

What does Asato read?

Records about technology. Asato reads metadata: records about technology, such as licenses, devices, usage, sign-in activity and costs. Contracts and invoices are read only if the customer connects them. Asato never reads employees' documents, email or messages. Access is read-only by default, scoped by the customer and revocable at any time, and customer data never trains any model.

What is Asato's FedRAMP status?

Legacy FedRAMP Ready. Asato is listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as Legacy FedRAMP Ready, at the Moderate level. FedRAMP no longer takes new Ready submissions, and lists the designation under that name. It is a readiness designation, not a FedRAMP certification or authorization, and a federal agency still issues its own authorization to operate. It is a federal designation and does not stand in for a state's own security review. Separately, Asato holds SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and HITRUST e1. The Trust Center gives the scope, period and issuer of each.

Do we keep what we stop spending?

The agency's budget rules decide. Asato reports three separate figures. Found is what it identified. Approved is what a named person signed off. Saved is what came off the bill, agreed jointly by the customer and Asato at the close of the engagement. Whether a reduction counts as a saving or as a cost avoided, and where the money goes, follows the agency's own budget rules.

Is this page only for federal agencies?

No. The three questions apply to any agency: federal, state and local government, transit authorities and other public agencies. The law cited on the page is federal. The audit findings come from a federal audit office, two state audit offices and a transit authority's inspector general. The FedRAMP designation is federal only.

How long before an agency holds the report?

One week from the day Asato is connected, for one area. In government, the week starts once the agency's own security review has cleared the connection.

Does Asato negotiate with vendors?

No. Asato does not negotiate. It supplies the count and the evidence behind it, and the buyer negotiates.

Does Asato make an agency compliant with the law or with an audit recommendation?

No. Asato supplies the counts: what was bought, what is in use and what a named person approved. Whether those meet a law, a regulation or an audit recommendation is for the agency and its auditor to say.

Next step

Get your Asset Clarity Report at https://www.asato.ai/talk-to-sales.

Last updated: 2026-10-06