Program improves risk assessment for cloud solutions, opening door to cost savings and efficiency gains
Washington, DC — December 8 —
The Business Software Alliance today applauded the Obama Administration for launching the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, known as FedRAMP, which aims to provide a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and monitoring for cloud computing products and services. Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel signaled the program’s rollout in a December 8 memo to agency CIOs.
“FedRAMP marks an important step forward in moving federal IT systems into the cloud,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. “Cloud solutions in many cases can offer substantial cost savings and efficiency gains, which are key priorities for government.”
“The new program has the potential to accelerate federal cloud adoption by drumming redundancies out of the security and risk assessment process for IT procurement,” Holleyman said. “The traditional way for government to vet IT solutions has been for each agency to do its own analysis, independent of others, which is onerous, expensive, and inefficient. FedRAMP promises to give agencies and their vendors a far more efficient ‘do once, use often’ framework.”
“Improving the way government vets the IT systems it buys may sound like a dreary, bureaucratic exercise, but it has broad implications for the growth of IT economy,” said Holleyman. “The US government has an outsized influence on the IT market because of its $80 billion technology budget. When it acts as an early adopter, it creates a model for others to follow.”
About BSA
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the leading global advocate for the software industry. It is an association of nearly 100 world-class companies that invest billions of dollars annually to create software solutions that spark the economy and improve modern life. Through international government relations, intellectual property enforcement and educational activities, BSA expands the horizons of the digital world and builds trust and confidence in the new technologies driving it forward.
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