House passes FedRAMP bill

The House today, with new members from the 2020 elections freshly sworn-in, passed bipartisan legislation aimed at standardizing the processes federal agencies use to on-ramp cloud computing technologies.

The measure passed on a voice vote.

FedRAMP, established in 2011, is a government program to provide a standard approach for agency security assessments and authorizations to use cloud computing services. Its goal is to make onboarding these technologies quicker by allowing agencies to leverage the same technologies as one another without conducting multiple evaluations.

"Unfortunately, the current state of cloud adoption in the federal government involves various agency-specific processes, making it complicated for agencies to issue an authorization to operate for cloud services, even when a cloud service provider has already been authorized for use at other agencies," said Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.), the bill's chief author.

In addition to codifying the existing program, the bill would authorize $20 million for the General Services Administration to increase the number of secure cloud technologies available for agency adoption.

The bill would also establish a Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee to "ensure dialogue among GSA, agency cybersecurity and procurement officials, and industry for effective and ongoing coordination in acquisition and adoption of cloud products by the federal government," according to Connolly.

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program Authorization Act of 2021 is co-sponsored by Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jody Hice (R-Ga.).