The City of Palm Beach Gardens & GovRAMP

About the Program

Safeguarding the City of Palm Beach Gardens’ critical information requires a collaborative effort. Cybersecurity teams continuously defend against evolving threats, necessitating proactive measures to fortify networks and systems. Ensuring that providers and products handling sensitive data meet minimum cybersecurity standards is essential.

GovRAMP collaborates with the City to help providers comply with NIST 800-53 security controls, offering standardized cybersecurity verification and transferable credentials. This “verify once, serve many” approach allows validated products to be used across participating government entities.

The City of Palm Beach Gardens is working towards a standardized approach to the security assessment of cloud computing services. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition, cloud computing is “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”

• What is GovRAMP?

  Founded at the beginning of 2020, GovRAMP was born from the clear need for a standardized approach to the cybersecurity standards required from service providers offering solutions to state and local governments.

  As a 501(c)6 nonprofit, our mission is to promote cybersecurity best practices through education and policy development to improve the cyber posture of public institutions and the citizens they serve. GovRAMP is composed of service providers offering IaaS, PaaS, and/or SaaS solutions, third-party assessment organizations, and government officials. Our members lead, manage, and work in various disciplines across the United States and are all committed to making the digital landscape a safer, more secure place.

• New Procurements and Existing Cloud Service Products and Contracts

  • The City of Palm Beach Gardens will require that cloud products utilized by the city enroll in the GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot program in lieu of risk assessment questionnaires.

  • GovRAMP Ready and Authorized certification will also be accepted.

  • Providers must provide their quarterly Snapshot letter and access to the Progressing Snapshot Matrix or Continuous Monitoring report to the City of Palm Beach Gardens.

• How do I get started?

  To learn more about how to obtain any of our GovRAMP statuses, visit our GovRAMP for Service Providers page. This page provides an overview of the GovRAMP organization, general onboarding information, a getting started checklist, and complete details regarding the requirements for beginning the GovRAMP verification process. 

• Do I have to engage with a Third Party Assessing Organization (3PAO)?

  Not necessarily. GovRAMP Snapshots and the GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot Program do not require 3PAO engagement. All documents submitted for verification are provided to the GovRAMP Program Management Office for review.

  GovRAMP Ready and Authorized do require 3PAO engagement. 

• How much does a GovRAMP assessment cost?

  In an effort to continue to support Nevada small and medium sized businesses including veteran and minority owned businesses, the GovRAMP assessment fees are tiered based on the annual revenue for the company.

  View the full GovRAMP Fee Schedule

• Who can I contact?

  For additional information, reach out to info@govramp.org.
  
  For City of Palm Beach Gardens specific questions, please visit www.pbgfl.com/purchasing.