Express is discontinued. While you can still download it, it won't be around long.

>For the most part, yes, that may be enough.
>
>EDIT: Just realized the community license probably won't work for you. So you'd need to buy a VS license or use the Express version (which is painful enough that I really suggest you don't do that).
>
>On thing to consider - you're also more than likely going to need some kind of tool to do reporting. They can actually use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) which you can get with the free version of SQL Server. Or one of the third party reporting tools (I like DevExpress's XtraReports). One thing to be aware of with SQL Server Express is the 10 GB limit per database for SQL Express and 1GB memory limit and CPU core limits; if that's enough then you're OK. They would probably want some kind of third party library of controls for desktop apps (DevExpress, Telerik, etc.) but if you don't have any budget you can use the crappy built-in controls.
>
>If the plan is to convert them to a web app, then the choice around controls isn't nearly as much of an issue - there are a ton of good/free JS libraries available.