GSA Associate Administrator Speaks to Cloud Environment and FedRAMP Implementation

Currently, there is a great deal of buzz surrounding the movement toward Cloud environments within government. From discussions of significant cost savings to hesitations surrounding security concerns, most government agencies have begun to weigh the pros and cons of migrating information and operations to the Cloud. David L. McClure, now Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at General Services Administration (GSA), spoke with Christopher Dorobek of the DorobekINSIDER to discuss progress toward a Cloud environment in government.

McClure agreed there has been greater acceptance in shifting email to a Cloud environment, but moving larger and more sensitive operations to a Cloud environment has been slower moving. He explains that there has been more caution moving big systems, big applications, and core missions to Cloud environments, based on concerns of security and continuity of operations. He sees collaborative tools as the logical next step for Cloud adoption, and mentions, “[agencies are] all looking for collaboration tools; most collaboration tools are Cloud based.”

GSA has also led the development of FedRAMP, which McClure says at its simplest is “just trying to bring some commonality and standardization to the security process [used] to evaluate Cloud.” By the end of this year, he explains that they are looking to move several initial programs through the FedRAMP process to make sure the security process is appropriately calibrated.

To listen to David McClure’s full interview you can catch the entire radio show at GovLoop Insights or you can subscribe to our iTunes channel.