The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program hosted its first agency roundtable on August 29. Held at General Services Administration headquarters, the roundtable aimed “to make agency connections to create long-lasting relationships in sharing cloud security and implementation strategies,” according to FedRAMP Agency Evangelist Ashely Mahan in a blog post.
Thirty-four agencies sent representatives, who were advised on the program’s release of High Baseline requirements — security requirements to protect some of the most sensitive, unclassified, high-impact data in federal cloud computing environments. There was also discussion of the FedRAMP Marketplace dashboard — a user interface where cloud service providers, agencies and third-party assessment organization can interact — as well as the FedRAMP Readiness Assessment Report, a template for cloud providers looking to demonstrate their readiness to pursue FedRAMP authorization.
Mary Lou Tilltotson of the National Science Foundation recounted how the NSF issued an agency authorization for Accenture Federal Cloud in four months thanks to her “recipe for success:” Engage all stakeholders from the beginning; ensure management buy-in and support; develop a detailed plan schedule; identify skilled resources and roles; and conduct quality documentation reviews before FedRAMP submissions.
FedRAMP received 30 authorizations from agencies in the 90 days leading up to the roundtable, leading to conversations about how to work closely with the FedRAMP project management office to issue an initial or reused authorization.
Questions about the agency authorization process and how to attend the next agency roundtable can be directed to agency@fedramp.gov.
FedRAMP hosts 34 agencies at roundtable
