The General Services Administration (GSA) said today that its Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)will speed its work on authorizing “AI-based cloud services that provide access to conversational AI engines designed for routine and repeated use by federal workers.”
FedRAMP is administered by GSA, which earlier this year launched its “20x” revamp of the program with a heavy focus on automation to speed the approval process for secure cloud services used by the Federal government.
In its announcement today, GSA said FedRAMP “will begin prioritizing” authorization of AI-based cloud services.
“This initiative is the result of a recommendation from the FedRAMP Board and the U.S. Chief Information Officers Council and focuses on specific enterprise-grade offerings that have demand within the government, are included in the GSA Multiple Award Schedule program, and are able to meet 20x pilot authorization requirements within two months of qualification,” GSA said.
The agency pointed to its recently created FedRAMP AI web page for a full list of criteria and other details about the prioritization process.
“This accelerated prioritization aims to streamline the adoption of advanced AI capabilities across the federal government, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and innovation,” GSA said today.
FedRAMP, GSA said, aims to collaborate with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the CIO Council to “provide additional support to fast-track the authorization process for qualified AI cloud providers to ensure secure and compliant integration into federal agency operations.”
“GSA is taking swift action to prioritize the acceleration of AI adoption across government and deliver on President Trump’s AI Action Plan,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum in a statement today.
“Prioritizing FedRAMP reviews for AI solutions is a critical step in getting trusted AI tools deployed across government and in use to streamline operations and improve workflows,” he said.
GSA Deputy Administrator Stephen Ehikian said today, “FedRAMP 20x is removing the historic blockers that stopped innovative companies from selling to government. If you’re deployed on modern cloud infrastructure and following industry best-practices then FedRAMP 20x is designed for you.”
“In the 20x Phase One pilot, automated validation enables tech companies to rapidly showcase their security posture,” Ehikian continued. “This expedited authorization process not only shortens the timeline from months to a few weeks but also delivers a deeper understanding of their security choices.”
“This is a transformative moment for federal cloud security and AI integration,” said Thomas Shedd, who heads GSA’s Technology Transformation Services group and is deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service.
“The emphasis on AI adoption within government meets agencies where they are by providing them with access to authorized emerging technologies that have been vetted using FedRAMP’s security standards,” said Shedd. “The strategic directive to rapidly deploy secure AI solutions across government is essential to moving agencies forward quickly and effectively. Our team is committed to this bold vision and will work diligently to ensure its success.”
Today’s announcement from GSA follows closely on the heels of its rapid-fire addition in recent weeks of AI service providers to its One-Gov stable of tech companies that are providing discounted services to federal agencies.
On the AI front, those include Google for its “Gemini for Government” suite featuring the Google AI platform, cloud services, and agentic AI solutions. Other AI service providers signed to OneGov agreements include OpenAI and Anthropic.
GSA’s FedRAMP prioritization plan received a good reception today from at least one major player in the market.
“We are very excited to see GSA accelerate AI adoption in alignment with the President’s AI Action Plan by using the expedited FR20x Authorization pathway,” said Gaurav “GP” Pal, Principal at stackArmor, in a statement to MeriTalk.
“Our Armory20x ATO Accelerator on Google cloud provides the perfect force multiplier to help reduce the time and cost of ATOs and align with GSA mission to enable access to commercial AI solutions with minimal friction,” he said.