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

The U.S. Air Force is talking to Congress about starting a multiyear, replenishable fund for cloud computing, according to Frank Konieczny, the chief technology officer of the Office of Information Dominance and chief information officer of the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Air Force. […]

Tony Summerlin, who helped write FedRAMP, said he envisioned the program as a much quicker and sleeker version of what it is today. He says speed is one of the biggest challenges to Federal initiatives across the board, not just in the application of FedRAMP. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., called on the Department of Defense to stop being a “rogue elephant” when it comes to cloud authorization and the FedRAMP process. […]

Over the past few years, many government agencies have turned from doubting and distrusting the cloud to fully embracing its potential, according to Microsoft executives. […]

Recent cloud adoptions have enabled government agencies, both on the Federal and state and local levels, to process data much faster than before, and those cloud services are becoming easier to get, according to panelists at the Microsoft Government Cloud Forum. […]

Microsoft on Tuesday announced new advancements to its government cloud offerings, which will expand its ability to store Department of Defense data and increase the number of regions in which their data centers are available. […]

The General Services Administration announced that the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Government was issued a Provisional Authority to Operate by the Joint Authorization Board on Sept. 22, the first product to receive one through the new FedRAMP Accelerated program. […]

FedRAMP needs to adopt a modular approach, according to many of the 41 chief information officers and IT officials that responded to the Professional Services Council’s 2016 Federal CIO Survey. […]

Facing criticism that $150,000 was spent to create a FedRAMP dashboard virtually identical to the existing FedRAMP OnRamp dashboard, the General Services Administration said that the new dashboard performs unique functions and that it has processes in place to ensure that systems are not unnecessarily duplicated. […]

Federal agencies can now use cloud computing systems to store their most sensitive, unclassified data, through the recent release of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program High Baseline.
“This release allows agencies to use cloud environments for high-impact data, including data that involves the protection of life and financial ruin,” said the FedRAMP announcement. […]

In a review of its progress over the past nine months compared with the four years before that, the GSA released an infographic touting the increases in authorizations, re-uses, and use frequency of cloud service providers. […]

Less than three months after a wave of negative feedback from industry forced the General Services Administration to revamp the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, a new MeriTalk survey shows for the first time that many government IT officials doubt the value of the program in its current form. […]

Content management company Box unveiled its Box for Government initiative, which brings together different product suites designed for government and enables agencies to work remotely, collaboratively, and with an assurance of security. Box for Government has already received a FedRAMP Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) from the Defense Information Systems Agency. […]

If cloud computing is the future of government information technology, then Cisco may be one of the most relevant companies in Washington, D.C. Cisco’s FedRAMP authorization—granted by the Department of Health and Human Services—represents a significant development for both the company and the government. […]

Cloud computing offers the most security for government data, argued Homeland Security CIO of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Mark Schwartz, at the Akamai Government Forum. […]

Microsoft Azure was selected for a FedRAMP pilot program that will establish a high-impact baseline for cloud-computing services. This essentially allows Federal agencies to move more sensitive data onto contracted cloud-computing services, enabling the sensitive data to operate on the more technically advanced level that is already possible for low-impact data. […]

A representative of a Federal cloud computing industry advisory group filed a formal complaint this week with the General Services Administration’s inspector general alleging officials from FedRAMP issued veiled threats of retaliation against member companies that publicly voiced concerns about problems with the cloud security certification process. […]

In a Customer Perspective panel at the FixFedRAMP event, three Federal CIOs and CTOs expressed frustration with current FedRAMP operations. […]

A “fireside chat” brought the heat to Capitol Hill on Thursday. Members of the Cloud Computing Caucus delivered a scathing review of the FedRAMP certification process, but also strong words of advice, to a roomful of Federal workers and private contractors at the Fix FedRAMP forum. […]