Third-Party Assessment Organization, 3PAO for short, is an independent partner organization that conducts a thorough assessments of a cloud service provider for the FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) on the basis of federal security guidelines.  The federal government depends on 3PAO assessments to make a risk-based decision on whether they should include a…

The Chief Information Officers or CIO Council is responsible for improving IT practices across the United States of America. They advocate for IT priorities and communicate key updates, initiatives, and guidance to federal CIOs and IT professionals.  The CIO Council is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and informs federal CIOs about…

Cloud Service Offering (CSO) refers to a specific product or service provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) to the federal agencies in the USA.  Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) must determine if their Cloud Service Offering (CSO) is for government use only, available to the public, private, or a hybrid cloud setup. Additionally, CSOs are…

FedRAMP or Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is a government-led compliance program to make the adoption of cloud services across federal agencies secure and efficient. The FedRAMP Authorization Act of 2022 further made FedRAMP a stronger standard after which it was also incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the U.S. The…

The FedRAMP PMO (Program Management Office) is the executive office that manages the functioning of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to continuous security and risk assessment for cloud products and services. GSA set up the FebRAMP PMO to coordinate with the Joint Authorization Board-the…

A Joint Authorization Board or JAB provides FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) authorization to cloud service providers.  The Board consists of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from the DHS (Department of Homeland Security, DoD (Department of Defense), and GSA (General Services Administration).  The JAB reviews authorization packages based on the priority queue for…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the organization behind the president’s budget in the United States. It is the biggest office under the Executive Office of the President (EOP).  The FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) guidelines were created by the OMB in 2011. The main purpose of this government program is…