DISA grants milCloud 2.0 provisional authority to host highly sensitive data

Defense Department components are now able to use the agency’s newest cloud computing infrastructure to process highly sensitive information.

The Defense Information Systems Agency granted milCloud 2.0 provisional authority for impact level 5 data Monday, allowing the CSRA-designed cloud service platform to access and host controlled unclassified information, mission critical information and national security systems. Level 5 is the most sensitive classification of unclassified DOD data.

DISA officials said the provisional authority to operate gives milCloud 2.0 a year-long conditional authorization that “ushers the way for early adopters to connect to and run in the DOD, on-premises, private community cloud environment.”

“For the next 60 days we will be working with our early adopters to fine-tune our business processes,” DISA milCloud 2.0 program manager Caroline Bean said in a statement. “The next step will be to open the doors for business to everyone else who is waiting to onboard. Our target is early May.”

According to DISA’s website, the PA process will allow for assessment testing of the milCloud 2.0 infrastructure prior to an anticipated interim authority to test or authority to operate to provide cloud services components.

CSRA officials said in January that they planned to launch the milCloud 2.0 infrastructure on Feb. 1, allowing 15 to 20 DOD customers the ability to run their IT infrastructure from an on-premises commercial cloud environment.

“We have said since the beginning that milCloud 2.0 is a game-changer,” CSRA President and CEO Larry Prior said in a statement. “Through milCloud 2.0, CSRA is providing our warfighters with an ‘easy button’ for cloud acceleration, allowing new flexibility to focus on their mission while saving time, money, and resources.”

With the provisional authority, CSRA is launching a provisioning portal, to give users continuous monitoring of their usage, and a cost estimator, to estimate their cloud computing costs “in real time.”