FedRAMP 20x
A faster path to federal authorization

From gap assessment to authorization.
One point of contact the whole way.
Senior cybersecurity practitioners guide you through the entire authorization process, and we work alongside a top-ranked, accredited 3PAO to take you from gap assessment to an Authority to Operate.
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What is FedRAMP

One federal standard. Authorize once, reuse across agencies

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is the U.S. government’s standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services used by federal agencies.
Any cloud service provider (CSP) that wants to sell to the federal government, directly or as a subcontractor, needs an authorization through this process before an agency can put real workloads on its platform. It replaces a patchwork of agency-by-agency reviews with one federal standard.
Why companies pursue FedRAMP

What a FedRAMP authorization does for your business

Federal market access

Sell to federal agencies, not just talk to them

An authorization is the gate. Without one, agencies cannot put data on your platform, no matter how good the product is.

Reusable authorization

Prove your security once, not to every buyer

Authorize once and reuse it across agencies through the FedRAMP Marketplace.

Competitive differentiation

Stand out in federal procurement

Most cloud vendors never clear this bar. An authorization, or even an In Process status, sets you apart.

Enterprise halo effect

Win commercial enterprise deals faster

The same rigor that satisfies a federal agency reassures enterprise buyers evaluating your security posture.
Who's involved

Who's involved in FedRAMP

Who needs FedRAMP

Cloud service providers selling SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS to federal agencies, or to contractors and integrators who resell into federal accounts.

Who sponsors and reviews it

A federal agency sponsor or the FedRAMP PMO, an independent 3PAO that performs the assessment, and continuous monitoring reviewers after authorization.
FedRAMP 20x

FedRAMP 20x: where FedRAMP stands in 2026

FedRAMP 20x moves assurance away from paperwork and toward evidence. Instead of one binary security verdict, providers set their own security goals and continuously prove them through automated Key Security Indicators (KSIs) that measure security posture in near real time, replacing static, once-a-year assessments.
Phase
Timeline
Status
1. Low Pilot & Proof of Concept
FY25 Q3 to Q4 (Apr to Sep 2025)
Completed
2. Moderate Pilot
FY26 Q1 to Q2 (Nov 2025 to Mar 2026)
Completed
3. Wide-Scale Adoption
FY26 Q3 to Q4
Active now. New submission pipeline opens July to September 2026
4. Class D (High) Pilot
FY27 Q1 to Q2
Estimated
5. Rev5 End of Life
FY27 Q3 to Q4
No new Rev5 certifications after June 11, 2027
Today, FedRAMP 20x certifies Class A, Class B, and Class C. Class D is still in development, and Rev5 remains active and required for High-impact systems in the meantime.

Which class and path applies depends on your service and timing. We scope it with you before work begins.

Certification classes

FedRAMP certification classes

Class A (Pilot)

Mature programs entering the federal market

For cloud services with mature security and compliance programs. A small amount of information upfront and a light ongoing reporting load.
Available now
Class B (Low)

Common, small-scale, or light-use services

For services an entire agency is unlikely to rely on for important work, without the maintenance and reporting load of the higher classes.
Available now
Class C (Moderate)

Moderate-impact workloads most CSPs pursue

For common enterprise services likely to be used across an entire agency, or that provide important government services. The highest-rigor class available today.
Available now
Class D (High)

The most sensitive federal workloads

Reserved for High-impact services. FedRAMP 20x Phase 4 will build out Class D’s requirements; Rev5 remains the path for High systems until then.
In development
Classes A, B, and C use a Program Certification, reviewed directly by FedRAMP without an agency sponsor. Class D will require an Agency Certification, sponsored by the agency you’re selling to. Either way, certification alone doesn’t put your product in an agency’s environment: the agency still has to authorize its use, which is why a federal sales motion matters alongside the technical work.
Our FedRAMP approach

Built on real federal compliance experience, not consulting theory

We prepare you. Our accredited 3PAO partner assesses you.

InfoGuard’s FedRAMP practice is led by practitioners who design and run the controls your assessment will be judged on. Because FedRAMP requires an independent 3PAO for the official assessment, we handle the readiness, remediation, and documentation work, and partner with a top-ranked, accredited 3PAO for the assessment itself.
How we help

From gap assessment to authorization, and beyond

01

Readiness & Gap Assessment

We evaluate your environment against the applicable FedRAMP baseline, identify every gap a 3PAO will test, and map your authorization boundary: every system, service, and data flow in scope.
02

Scope & Controls Design

We help you select the right class and certification path, design the technical and administrative controls the baseline requires, and build your System Security Plan (SSP) and supporting policies.
03

Build & Remediation

We implement the tooling and operational controls your SSP calls for, closing gaps in access management, encryption, logging, incident response, and continuous monitoring.
04

Mock Assessment & Readiness

A mock assessment that mirrors the real Security Assessment Plan (SAP) process confirms your evidence and controls hold up before the clock starts.
05

Assessment & Authorization

Our independent, accredited 3PAO partner performs the official assessment as part of your engagement: one point of contact through your Security Assessment Report (SAR) and authorization.
06

Sustain & Monitor

Continuous monitoring is a standing FedRAMP requirement. We provide ongoing monitoring, evidence collection, and POA&M management so your authorization stays current.
FAQ

FedRAMP questions, answered

FedRAMP Fundamentals and Eligibility

FedRAMP, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, is the federal government’s standardized security program for cloud services. Federal agencies generally can’t buy or use a cloud product until it meets FedRAMP requirements. If you’re selling a cloud service to a federal agency, directly or as a subcontractor, you need it. If you have no plans to sell into the federal government, you don’t.
It’s what lets a federal agency use your Cloud Service Offering, and it’s what lets other CSPs in the FedRAMP Marketplace reuse your authorization instead of starting from scratch, authorize once, reuse across agencies.
Any commercial or government CSP offering SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS in a public, private, community, or hybrid cloud environment. You’ll need a System Security Plan, the applicable baseline controls implemented, and an accredited Third-Party Assessment Organization (3PAO) to run the independent assessment, a 3PAO can’t assess a system it helped build, so that assessor has to be independent of whoever did the implementation work.
FedRAMP is built on FISMA and NIST SP 800-53, but tailored specifically to cloud services, with a standardized package agencies can reuse instead of each running its own separate review. Compared to general FISMA/NIST work, it adds cloud-specific requirements, a heavier documentation load, mandatory independent assessment, and ongoing continuous monitoring.

Authorization Paths, Status, and Sponsorship

As of CR26 (FedRAMP’s 2026 Consolidated Rules), 20x is the default path for Certification Classes A, B, and C, what used to be the Low and Moderate baselines. Class D (High) is still under development, targeted to pilot in Phase 4 (FY27 Q1 to Q2), so Rev. 5 remains the path for High systems until then. Rev. 5, the traditional documentation-heavy path, is winding down: FedRAMP stops accepting new Rev. 5 certifications on June 11, 2027. We scope which path and class fits your environment before work begins.
FedRAMP Ready means an accredited 3PAO has confirmed your system has the technical capability to pursue authorization, it signals readiness to a potential agency sponsor. FedRAMP Authorized means the authorizing body has reviewed the complete package and granted an Authority to Operate (ATO). Ready gets you in the door; Authorized is the actual outcome.
Depends on the path. FedRAMP 20x doesn’t require one. Under Rev. 5, the High baseline requires a sponsoring federal agency; Moderate has alternative sponsorship options available to qualifying CSPs.

Readiness, Assessment, and Technical Requirements

It’s optional, but most organizations do one anyway, it’s a practice run through the same evidence review your 3PAO will perform, done before the formal assessment starts. Gaps caught here are far cheaper to fix than gaps caught mid-assessment, and it keeps your timeline on track.
Yes, for Moderate and High systems. Your 3PAO runs it as part of the assessment itself, you don’t need to find a separate vendor, and it tests whether someone could actually get in, not just whether the paperwork is in order.

Timeline, Cost, and Return on Investment

Timing depends on the path and how ready your evidence is. Rev. 5 Moderate (Class C) certifications typically take 12 to 18 months; FedRAMP 20x can move in three to six months when evidence is clean and automated. Organizational readiness is the biggest factor, unresolved technical debt, unpatched vulnerabilities, cryptography/key-management gaps, and slow sponsor engagement are the most common causes of delay, and addressing them before formal assessment beats fixing them reactively during it.
Cost depends on your security maturity, cloud architecture, impact level, authorization path, remediation needs, assessment scope, and ongoing monitoring requirements. There’s no flat fee, we provide a firm quote after an initial gap assessment.
FedRAMP is a real investment, but cost comes down with the right path selection, early readiness work, remediating technical debt before formal assessment, complete documentation, and automated evidence collection where feasible. Organizations that complete FedRAMP authorization commonly report first-year federal revenue well above their initial investment, often in the three-to-ten-times range, though ROI varies by CSP, addressable federal market, and contract size. We help assess whether your federal opportunity supports that kind of return during the initial scoping conversation, before you commit to a path.

Provider-Specific Services and Support

We provide strategic advisory support during the readiness phase, before the formal 3PAO assessment begins, early engagement reduces rework and speeds up authorization. That includes a FedRAMP workshop mapping your current controls to the applicable baseline, gap identification before those gaps become formal findings, a prioritized remediation roadmap that tackles the highest-impact issues first, and pre-assessment validation to confirm your SSP and controls are ready before the formal review starts.
Low, Moderate, and High impact levels, plus DoD Cloud and GovRAMP programs. We also map FedRAMP controls to related FISMA, CMMC, and other framework requirements you may be carrying at the same time.
Cybersecurity first

A checkbox compliance provider won't cut it

You need real cybersecurity expertise to earn an authorization that holds up under a 3PAO’s scrutiny and an agency’s continuous monitoring requirements.
InfoGuard is a cybersecurity firm first. Explore our cybersecurity services →
Next step

Tell us where you stand

Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish. We’ll reply with next steps, whether that’s a gap assessment, a mock assessment, or a straight introduction to our 3PAO partner.
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