DISA reaches IOC milestone as DoD enterprise cloud service broker

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) reports that it has met initial operational capability (IOC) in its mission as the cloud broker for the Department of Defense.

DoD CIO Teri Takai designated DISA as the DoD cloud broker in June 2012. In this role, DISA will enable the department to obtain secure, dependable, resilient, multi-provider cloud computing capabilities that will enhance mission effectiveness, improve IT efficiencies, and meet Joint Information Environment objectives.

“Reaching IOC means the agency has the framework in place for executing this mission,” states a DISA news announcement. “To date, DISA has established a process for gathering and assessing mission partner requirements, evaluation criteria for service offerings to include recommended contract requirements, criteria for matching mission partner requirements to the appropriate offerings, an enterprise cloud service catalog, and a cloud security model.”

According to the release, DISA has performed cybersecurity assessments of the two commercial cloud services that have been granted Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Joint Authorization Board Provisional Authorizations. Approval for use of these two commercial cloud services for information approved for public release is imminent, says DISA.

“An important element of the cloud broker effort is to facilitate contracting and acquisition by developing model contract language that supports implementation of the cloud security model and appropriate use of commercial cloud services,” stated the announcement.