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FBI seeks information on IaaS and SaaS providers as cloud push gathers pace
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking information about the capabilities of the public cloud provider community, in preparation for move off-premise
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is gathering information about the runners and riders of the public cloud market, as its evolution into a cloud-first organisation gathers pace.
In a show of support for the US Federal Government’s cloud-first agenda, the FBI issued a Request for Information (RFI) document on 16 February, as part of a review of the commercial cloud provider community and its collective capabilities.
In particular, the FBI said it “seeks to understand” the capabilities offered by infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider communities to inform its procurement decisions later down the line.
“Cloud capabilities and computing will support the FBI’s continued efforts into developing a new operating model for managing and standardising IaaS, PaaS and SaaS (integration and approach) across the agency,” the document states.
“Cloud computing will allow the FBI to efficiently manage, operate and run a very large-scale computing infrastructure to deliver the capacity, availability and performance that will permit users to focus on mission accomplishment.”
The document also goes on to share details about the desirable qualities and characteristics the FBI is looking for in any prospective cloud provider partners.
For instance, it asks suppliers to confirm if they operate at least two US-based multi-tenant datacentres, containing “firewalled space” for government use, that are at least 1,000 miles apart with the capacity to support around 50,000 users.
It also asks for clarification from prospective providers about whether or not they will be able to provide the FBI with a private connection to its own Secret network to prevent its data from passing over the public internet.
Read more about public sector cloud use
- The EU-backed EURECA project has spent the past 36 months assessing the state of public sector datacentres across Europe, and is revealing what it found.
- Eduserv study into cloud take-up inside local authorities suggests council CIOs are still over-invested in on-premise technology.
Questions about pricing models, the risk of supplier lock-in, security certifications, and their disaster recovery procedures are also among the areas the FBI is asking suppliers for information.
While suppliers are being invited by the FBI to provide it with information what their cloud platforms and services can do, the document stresses the data being sought is for market research purposes at this stage. The deadline for submissions is 2 March 2018.
