About the CIC
The Cloud Information Center (CIC) is a product created in partnership with:
GSA
Federal CIO Council
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Cloud Smart
When the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy transitioned from Cloud First to Cloud Smart in 2019, the top action to be taken was the creation of "a central location to share guidance and best practices on cloud-related topics with agencies."
The CIC was born out of this transition and aligns with Cloud Smart to demonstrate how federal agencies can use cloud computing technology to effectively enable their respective missions. It also shares the more specific goals of alleviating the three common pain points agencies are facing along their cloud journey:
- Enhancing and standardizing security
- Streamlining procurement
- Reskilling the workforce to be more cloud savvy
The CIC is a crowdsourced information hub that provides government cloud stakeholders with cloud education, strategic cloud acquisition resources and best practices concerning fundamental cloud issues like security, technical capabilities, and implementation. Initially launched in May of 2019, the CIC continues to:
- Educate federal, state and local government on the advantages of cloud adoption
- Assist in finding FedRAMP-authorized cloud products and IT professional services that enable them to achieve their missions
- Provide acquisition templates, sample documents, and other cloud resources
- Actively guide government entities through the cloud lifecycle phases of planning, acquisition, implementation and operation
The CIC strives to be a one-stop-shop that promotes and enables government to adopt and deploy cloud technologies and aims to do so without bias towards particular cloud contract vehicles, vendors or solutions. The GSA Cloud Team, in collaboration with government and industry, is continually updating this resource to keep it current with federal policies, cloud technologies, and best practices.
More importantly, the CIC is a collaborative effort that incorporates information and experiences from GSA, government agencies, industry, and cloud organizations to support the adoption of cloud solutions. If you are a cloud stakeholder who is interested in contributing to the CIC, making suggestions for additions, listing your cloud contract vehicle or otherwise improving to its comprehensiveness and accuracy, the GSA Cloud Team would love to hear from you. Email cloudinfo@gsa.gov to share your feedback or to reach a cloud subject matter expert.