GSA to Expand Cloud Coverage by Adopting Hybrid Model

The General Services Administration plans to adopt a modular or hybrid cloud to expand the technology’s use into new areas, an official said.

Beth Killoran, GSA deputy chief information officer, said the agency wants to avoid locking itself into using a single cloud platform, noting that different offerings have different capabilities.

“I think we’re going to start seeing some cloud brokerage and some cloud distribution so that we can utilize the best capabilities of cloud environments,” Killoran said during FedScoop’s IT Modernization Summit.

The agency relied on cloud technology to support the Small Business Administration’s relief effort during the coronavirus outbreak. GSA already had about half of its applications in the cloud by then, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

According to Killoran, a modular model would allow GSA to pick and choose cloud features while retiring ones that do not meet operational requirements.

Wider cloud adoption could also accelerate information technology modernization by encouraging agencies to share best practices, the deputy CIO said.

Killoran added that a modular cloud would also make sense for the government’s increasing reliance on telework.

Early in the pandemic, IT experts from the private sector said that federal agencies should emulate the Department of Defense’s cloud-based telework model.

Jeanette Manfra, Google’s global director for security and compliance, highlighted DOD’s use of a zero trust cloud computing architecture. Manfra previously served as assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.