DTA releases Hosting Certification Framework

The Digital Transformation Agency has released the Hosting Certification Framework for providers of hosting services to government organisations.

The new framework aims to help agencies mitigate against supply chain and ownership risks and enable them to identify and source appropriate hosting and related services.

It is designed to reduce agencies’ data sovereignty, ownership and supply chain risks while ensuring that government hosting services are more efficient and cost-effective.

The framework has two certification levels. The basic ‘Certified Assured Hosting Provider’ arrangement is designed to safeguard against the risks of change of ownership or control by imposing financial penalties or incentives.

Meanwhile, the ‘Certified Strategic Hosting Provider’ arrangement represents the highest level of assurance and is only available to providers that allow the government to specify ownership and control conditions.

The latter certification level was previously referred to as ‘Certified Sovereign Data Centre’, but the name has been changed based on industry feedback.

The DTA plans to commence certification of hosting providers on the current Data Centre Facilities Supplies Panel as a first step towards the implementation of the framework.

Other providers of hosting services such as managed service providers and cloud service providers can register their interest now for inclusion of the Phase 2 certification process, which is expected to commence at the end of the year.

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