Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee Nov. 16, 2023 public meeting agenda and minutes

November 16, 2023, 1 p.m.- 3 p.m. Eastern time

Virtual location: Zoom

Agenda

Call to Order: Welcome and Roll Call. FACA Public Meetings

Michelle White, Designated Federal Officer

Michelle White, FSCAC DFO, reviewed the purpose of the meeting and described the duties of the committee. She completed a roll call and determined that a quorum had been established. She reviewed the agenda of the meeting and announced that there will also be an open forum after the committee’s question and answer agenda item for questions from the public with three minutes allotted for each speaker.

Chair Remarks

Ann Lewis, FSCAC Chair

Ann Lewis, FSCAC Chair, provided opening remarks. She stated the desired outcome of the meeting was to develop and deliver to the GSA Administrator, a one-page summary of the Committee’s feedback on the draft OMB FedRAMP Memo. She also shared that any technical questions not answered in today’s meeting will be captured, addressed, and communicated back to the Committee and posted on the Committee’s website.

Committee Q&A with OMB

Ashley Mahan, Policy Analyst and Eric Mill, Senior Advisor Office of the Federal CIO, OMB

FSCAC Membership

The committee welcomed comments from members of the public. Three members of the public provided comments all related to the draft deliverable and recommendations the Committee have been discussing. Attendees raised their hands to be called on and highlighted specific recommendations the Committee should consider which included: focusing on reducing friction for sponsorship, reducing costs for CSPs to receive an authorization, increasing intensity of pen-testing, and providing agencies with the best view of a system’s security posture. Eric Mill introduced himself and provided additional clarity around the draft OMB FedRAMP memo. Specifically, he stated that OMB will be extending the public comment period, and the exact date will be provided in the Federal Register at a later time, but expected to be in December.

Eric then opened up the floor for questions from the FSCAC membership. Some of the main questions sought additional clarification on definitions listed in the memo, the new authorization paths and continuous monitoring processes, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, and the timeline for execution.

Public Comment

Members of the Public

The committee welcomed comments from members of the public. There were no public comments.

Committee Discussion – Draft OMB Memo Feedback

FSCAC Membership

Michelle White, FSCAC DFO, provided an overview of the process and the topics for discussion and called on members as they raised their hands to provide their input, which was directly captured live during the meeting in the draft FSCAC letter to the GSA Administrator. Ann Lewis, FSCAC Chair, led the discussion to further improve and refine the draft letter summary.

FSCAC members provided additional input in the summary. Individual comments submitted prior to the meeting were captured in the appendix. Branko Bokan clarified that the comments included do not represent all FSCAC members and proposed a clarifying statement to include. Additional summary sections and bullets were added in the areas of standards/process changes, small business concerns, budget implications, potential benefits, items missing from the draft OMB memo, and clarifications needed from the draft OMB memo.

Committee Letter Finalization

FSCAC Membership

The Committee continued their deliberations and discussion. Membership further refined, edited, and finalized the draft FSCAC letter to the GSA Administrator to prepare it for a Committee vote.

Vote on Final Deliverable

FSCAC Membership

Michelle reviewed the voting procedures. Ann Lewis made a motion to approve the deliverable as it is written and deliver it to the GSA Administrator by November 20, 2023. Bo Berlas, seconded the motion. A roll call vote was completed with the majority in favor of the motion.

Closing Remarks and Adjourn

Ann Lewis, Chair, and Michelle White, DFO

Ann thanked everyone for joining the meeting, taking the time, and providing their expertise. Michelle
adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Committee Members in Attendance

• Ann Lewis (Chair)
• Bill Hunt
• Bo Berlas
• Branko Bokan
• Daniel Pane
• Jackie Snouffer
• Jim Beckner III
• John Greenstein
• Joshua Cohen
• LaMonte Yarborough
• Marci Womack
• Matt Scholl

Committee Members Absent

• Ravi Jagannathan
• Michael Vacirca
• Michael Vacirca
• Nauman Ansari

Guest Speakers and Presenters

• Eric Mill, OMB
• Ashley Mahan, OMB
• Laura Gerhardt, OMB

FSCAC Support Staff Present

• D’Arcy Steiner, FSCAC Support Team
• Cristina Brydges, FSCAC Support Team
• Clifton Johnson, FSCAC Support Team
• Theresa West, FSCAC Support Team
• Zarina Neff, FSCAC Support Team
• Ryan Palmer, FedRAMP
• David Waltermire, FedRAMP
• MacKenzie Robertson, GSA
• Brian Conrad, FedRAMP

Members of the Public Present

• Sean Connelly, CISA
• Susie Galvan, Captioner
• Alla Seiffert, Amazon
• Rebecca Pselos, Kitetail Strategy
• Charles Ray, TTB
• Adam Cowdery
• Tony Bai, RISCPoint
• Paul Caron, Microsoft
• Townsend Bourne, Sheppard Mullin
• David Alvarado, Sheppard Mullin
• Terry Humphries, GTP Software
• Drew Scherer, Carahsoft