18F's Cloud.gov Gets FedRAMP Approval

The General Service Administration's 18F digital services unit said its cloud.gov platform received authorization to operate from the GSA’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.

In a blog post, 18F said that “FedRAMP Authorized status marks completion of a comprehensive security and compliance assessment that enables federal agencies to start using cloud.gov with significantly reduced effort.”

Cloud.gov is a government-customized hosting platform that takes care of technical infrastructure and security compliance requirements for agencies. 18F says that the Platform as a Service gives agencies “a fast and easy way to host and update websites (and other web applications, such as APIs), so their employees and contractors can focus on their missions instead of wrangling the infrastructure and compliance requirements common to federal systems.”

Now that cloud.gov has FedRAMP Authorized status, “teams can start using cloud.gov in production with less upfront work, and using cloud.gov in turn enables them to deliver services faster.”

According to the GSA, the FedRAMP authorization for cloud.gov will “drastically reduce the time an agency spends in order to review cloud.gov’s security and compliance to issue an authorization. This means an agency will be able to host and update websites and other web applications in the fraction of the time it would take with traditional solutions. Additionally, cloud.gov is the first completely open source service with FedRAMP Authorization, which agencies and stakeholders are invited to reuse and contribute to.”