FedRAMP
Authorization

FedRAMP (the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is a US government-wide program that standardises security assessment and authorization for cloud service providers (CSPs) serving federal agencies. You need FedRAMP if you want to sell cloud services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) to any US federal government agency — without an authorization, agencies generally cannot procure your cloud service.

A JAB P-ATO (Joint Authorization Board Provisional Authority to Operate) is issued by the JAB (DoD, DHS, GSA), provides the broadest acceptance, takes roughly 12–24 months, and requires demonstrated multi-agency demand. An Agency ATO is issued by an individual federal agency for its specific use, is faster (6–12 months), and can be leveraged by other agencies afterwards. The JAB path is more widely recognised but harder to obtain; the Agency path is faster for targeted deployments. In both cases the authorization is issued by the US government, not by a consultant.

Timelines vary by impact level and path: LI-SaaS roughly 6–9 months (streamlined), Low 9–12 months, Moderate 12–18 months (most common), and High 18–24+ months. An Agency ATO is typically several months faster than a JAB P-ATO. The timeline spans readiness assessment, SSP development, control implementation, the 3PAO assessment, remediation, and the authorization decision.

A Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO) is a FedRAMP-accredited independent assessor that evaluates your cloud service. The 3PAO conducts control testing, vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing, and produces the Security Assessment Report (SAR). An accredited 3PAO is required for all FedRAMP authorizations (JAB, Agency, and FedRAMP Ready); the current list is published on the FedRAMP Marketplace at fedramp.gov.

It depends on your impact level: LI-SaaS around 156 controls (a subset tested, the rest attested), Low around 156, Moderate around 323 (the most common baseline), and High around 410. Controls are drawn from NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, and each FedRAMP baseline defines specific implementation, evidence, and testing requirements per control.

Continuous Monitoring (ConMon) is the ongoing security monitoring required after FedRAMP authorization. CSPs typically conduct monthly operating-system and database vulnerability scans, perform regular web-application scans, submit monthly continuous-monitoring reports to the FedRAMP PMO, track and remediate POA&M items, undergo an annual 3PAO assessment, and report security incidents within prescribed timelines. ConMon is what keeps an authorization valid over time.

Total costs commonly range from roughly US$250K to US$2M+ depending on impact level, authorization path (FedRAMP Ready < Agency ATO < JAB P-ATO), 3PAO fees, consulting fees, internal staff time, technical implementations (SIEM, FIPS-validated modules, MFA, encryption), and ongoing ConMon costs. Many organisations pursue FedRAMP Ready first to demonstrate commitment before a full authorization. Note: these are US-market figures; TCSA advisory and readiness fees are scoped separately.

FedRAMP is specifically for US federal agencies. Many state and local governments, however, accept FedRAMP authorization as evidence of a strong security posture, and some states run their own aligned programs such as StateRAMP and TX-RAMP. A FedRAMP authorization positions you well for those, but you still need to pursue separate state-specific authorizations where they are required.