FedRAMP takes agile BPA for a test drive

The cloud services vetting office wants to open its process to the public via a dashboard built under 18F's agile blanket purchase agreement.

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The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is seeking a dashboard to allow greater visibility into the FedRAMP certification process and intends to use a new agile contract vehicle for the application.

The draft request for quotations, released March 14, is the first procurement fielded under 18F's agile blanket purchase agreement.

The four-year-old FedRAMP program has lately slowed down the pace at which it vets cloud services providers, and industry has been clamoring for more transparency in the process.

After hearing "hard truths" from his customers, FedRAMP Director Matt Goodrich said in a March 10 blog post that FedRAMP would buckle down and focus on key transformations, including the creation of "a public dashboard on FedRAMP.gov to detail agency use, CSP authorizations and where CSPs are in the authorization process."

In typical 18F fashion, the draft RFQ prizes open-source coding work. The winning vendor will deliver a public beta launch of the dashboard, while "the back-end data and script will be provided," the document states.

The final RFQ will likely be posted the week of March 28, which is also when Goodrich plans to hold the first of several public events showcasing FedRAMP's redesign.