A Pivotal Play
GSA Delivers Results, High Marks with FedRAMP Initiative
Why is this a Pivotal Play?
Cloud-based solutions offer significant benefits to agencies looking to deliver more value to taxpayers at a lower cost. These third-party solutions bring new risks that must be managed, and security is one of them. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) standardizes cloud security among government agencies. This initiative went into effect on June 6, 2012, and should be applauded for its early success.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) manages the process of presenting to the joint authorization board and working with service providers to prepare them for meeting FedRAMP requirements. Demand is high for cloud-based solutions, and GSA needed to mobilize resources and programming to satisfy agencies seeking to leverage the cloud.
In a month's time, GSA was able to put in place everything it needed to evaluate and approve 30 initiation requests from cloud providers and 10 third-party providers. The impact was immediate.
Agencies now have fast access to a growing list of secure cloud-based solutions that can be deployed quickly, managed more effectively, and secured with confidence in a manner that puts less pressure on budgets.
Let's applaud this effort. In driving FedRAMP forward, GSA exemplified extraordinary capability to collaborate with other federal agencies in order to implement a program that would benefit everyone, including taxpayers. Pivotal Plays celebrates GSA for achieving astonishing results over the course of just one month.