The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is aimed at quelling government concerns about cloud security.
The voluntary program, expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011, is for private and public cloud services and is aimed at standardizing security accreditation and certification, according to InformationWeek.
The program will allow services to be accredited once for use by all government agencies instead of each one having to go through its own accreditation processes.
"By simplifying how agencies procure cloud computing solutions, we are paving the way for more cost-effective and energy-efficient service delivery for the public, while reducing the federal government's data center footprint," said federal CIO Vivek Kundra.
The government is encouraging federal agencies to adopt cloud computing to help save money, but federal IT managers have consistently raised security concerns as the biggest barrier to adoption.
This story was first published by Computer Weekly