VMware and Amazon Web Services have developed a hybrid cloud solution that will make it easier and more cost-effective for Federal agencies to move mission critical workloads into public clouds such as AWS, pending FedRAMP authority to operate. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is considering limiting the network damage that can result from Web browsing by having employees take it outside. […]

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) of the General Services Administration (GSA) on Wednesday announced the winners of the inaugural FedRAMP Five Awards at ATARC’s Cloud & Data Center Summit. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

A shift to the cloud offers government agencies an opportunity to embrace digital transformation, add automation, and rethink processes, said Federal IT panelists on Wednesday at MeriTalk’s 2018 Cloud Computing Brainstorm. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) has released new guidance to help cloud service providers (CSP) better delineate the authority and responsibility shared between providers and government agencies. […]

Federal government officials and a member of Congress influential in government IT spending debates said late last month that billions of additional savings look to be ripe for the picking through elimination of duplicative services, and that Congress is working on ways to beef up the pursuit of those savings. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency–DISA–has granted IBM’s SmartCloud for Government a 12-month Department of Defense Provisional Authorization for systems hosting data at Impact Level 5–IL5. The move makes IBM’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service–IaaS–the latest cloud service available to Federal agencies for the highest level of unclassified information. […]

The world over, folks ask the same two questions every day–what’s for dinner, and what’s the weather forecast? In the government IT space, every day we’re all asking about the cloud forecast. A recent report from P&S Market Research provides new insights on the global government’s cloud appetites. […]

Jay Huie, Cloud Portfolio Director for GSA’s Technology Transformation Service (TTS)–which includes FedRAMP–sat down with MeriTalk last week. He offered insights on his role at GSA, FedRAMP, and the perspective on the road ahead for cloud adoption, FITARA, and MGT. […]

Google announced that Google Cloud Platform (GCP)–and Google’s underlying common infrastructure–have received the FedRAMP Rev. 4 Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) at the Moderate Impact level from the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB). The certification covers data centers in numerous countries, so customers can take advantage of cloud services in multiple regions. […]

With compliance deadlines looming for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), FedRAMP is ramping up its requirements for the monitoring of cloud systems. […]

Reports like December’s White House IT Modernization Report sometimes seem like they impose requirements on agencies from above. Speaking at the ServiceNow Federal Forum in February, Danielle Metz, a policy advisor at DoD Office of Science and Tech Policy and contributor to the Modernization Report, gave us a look inside the kitchen to see how these reports come together. […]

TalaTek, a risk management company, announced on Feb. 26 that it received a FedRAMP ATO from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for its Enterprise Compliance Management Solution (ECMS). This cloud-based SaaS allows PBGC to centralize security statistics in real time and see whether it complies with a variety of security frameworks, including NIST security frameworks.  […]

Complete Discovery Source (CDS), an eDiscovery company that finds electronic documents for litigation, announced it received a FedRAMP JAB ATO for its cloud platform on Feb. 12.  […]

Agencies undergoing digital transformation are combining on-premise, hybrid, and multiple cloud solutions into their environments. To that end, agencies need to weave cloud security and protection of on-premise systems into their broader security strategy for a true, defense-in-depth approach. […]

Latest certification gives Cisco a hat trick in the secure government cloud. […]

Last July, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) revamped the provisional authorization process to make life easier for cloud service providers (CSPs). The change let CSPs use a simple web form to delineate their business cases to FedRAMP’s Joint Authorization Board (JAB). […]

SAP’s National Security Services (NS2), a U.S. subsidiary of the international software company, has secured a FedRAMP JAB authorization for its cloud-based human capital management (HCM) suite. SAP NS2’s SuccessFactors HCM suite offers a variety of products, including talent acquisition and management tools, analytics tools, and core human resource tools, all running on the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) GovCloud platform. […]

The GSA is concerned that current cloud procurement methods are leading to confusion and a lack compliance with FedRAMP requirements. To curb the contract discrepancies, the GSA released a new RFI seeking industry input to “identify examples of preferred contract language agencies should incorporate to convey FedRAMP requirements in their solicitations,” according to a FedRAMP blog. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Here’s what happened this week in the Federal Information Technology community. […]

The new administration has left little doubt that consolidation is a top priority. The first budget calls for deep cuts across most agencies. If achieved, these reductions are likely to put the squeeze on already stressed IT budgets. The search for creative solutions can and must intensify. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is pursuing a hybrid cloud model that will simultaneously address optimization, security and budget priorities—blazing a trail for other Federal agencies to follow. […]

The General Services Administration announced Sept. 28 the launch of the FedRAMP Tailored Baseline for Cloud Service Providers with Low-Impact Software-as-a-Service Systems. […]

In order to get more government agencies to transition to the cloud, agency experts said that the procurement process has to become easier and clearer. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Here’s what happened this week in the Federal Information Technology community. […]

Government, industry, and the Hill got together for a collaborative powwow about government cloud progress, and specifically FedRAMP, the standardized cloud security certification, at the MeriTalk Cloud Computing Brainstorm on June 7 at the Newseum. The session reviewed progress to date and the path forward for the once-embattled GSA program–and revealed new transparency and important […]

Congress will be busy with future tech initiatives and members have high hopes for the potential of current programs, according to two congressmen who spoke June 7 at MeriTalk’s Cloud Computing Brainstorm. Congressional IT leaders Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Gerry Connolly, D-Va., talked about the future of major IT initiatives such as FedRAMP, the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, FITARA, and executive leadership, offering insight into the shape of IT developments in the coming months. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Here’s what happened this week in the Federal Information Technology community. […]