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GSA Announces FedRAMP High Baseline Requirements

Release of high baseline means more federal agencies will be able to move to the cloud

WASHINGTON — Today the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) released the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High Baseline Requirements. GSA is improving technology services across the federal government. The FedRAMP High Baseline Requirements allows systems containing high-impact data to be authorized through FedRAMP. Previously, the FedRAMP authorization process was only designed for low and moderate impact systems; however, with the introduction of a high baseline, even more federal agencies will be able to move to the cloud.

Concurrent with the release of the High Baseline Requirements, the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB), comprised of the CIOs of GSA, the Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security, also provisionally authorized three vendors demonstrating compliance with these requirements:

  • CSRA / Autonomic Resources’ ARC-P
  • Microsoft’s Azure GovCloud, and
  • Amazon Web Services GovCloud

Federal agencies are able to review these vendor’s security packages to begin to use these services immediately.

“This release breaks down a huge barrier to cloud adoption by the federal government expanding the FedRAMP marketplace,” said FedRAMP Director, Matt Goodrich. “The federal government spends more than $40 billion annually on high impact systems - these are some of the most highly sensitive systems the government maintains. The high baseline requirements and provisional authorizations will allow the government to more fully realize the efficiencies and cost savings related to using cloud services.”

FedRAMP will be holding webinars for stakeholders to learn more about the High Baseline Requirements on June 29, 2016. GSA will release more information regarding these webinars next week.

About FedRAMP
FedRAMP is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. This framework saves time and staff required to conduct redundant agency security assessments. For more information on FedRAMP, go to www.FedRAMP.gov.

About GSA
The mission of U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people. As the real estate and procurement arm of the federal government, GSA is a driver of innovation, technology, sustainability, and economic development in cities and communities across the nation.

Join the conversation @USGSA @FedRAMP #InnovateGov

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