Question Period Note: Cloud services in the Government of Canada

Cloud services are some of the solutions used by many federal organizations to improve services to Canadians. To support the Government of Canada (GC) access to cloud services, Shared Services Canada (SSC) has established Framework Agreements with eight (8) leading Cloud Service Providers. In January 2023, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) published an updated GC Cloud Adoption Strategy, to promote a shift from “cloud first” to “cloud smart” and include new principles, as approved by Deputy Ministers in February 2022.

• The Government of Canada Cloud Adoption Strategy encourages departments to use cloud services provided by pre-approved third parties who meet the Government of Canada requirements, including security, to manage and process data and applications when it makes sense to do so
  • The government benefits from the flexibility provided by use of the cloud. Services can grow and shrink with demand and the government pays only for what it needs, when it’s needed
  • While reliance on cloud services is increasing, most of the government’s IT operations continue, and will continue, to rely on data centres and networks operated by government employees
  • Shared Services Canada is continuing to evolve its ability to provide a reliable, secure and sustainable hosting ecosystem in both data centres and the cloud, in order to support its partners and clients as they deliver services to Canadians

If pressed on procurement of cloud services:

• Through a competitive process, Shared Services Canada established a procurement vehicle to provide departments with access to industry leading, secure cloud services from prequalified vendors
• Cloud Service Providers are assessed against SSC’s standards for security by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
• Through a competitive procurement process, departments can access cloud services from the prequalified vendor that best meet their business and technical requirements

If pressed on cloud security:

• The protection and privacy of the Government of Canada data stored and processed in the cloud is a top priority for Shared Services Canada
• Measures are in place to enforce where data resides and how it is controlled
• Processes are in place to ensure that specific security requirements and standards are met when awarding cloud contracts
• To securely consume cloud services, each department must implement and maintain specific security guardrails
• Shared Services Canada actively monitors adherence to security requirements and reports on compliance with the security guardrails

If pressed on cloud first/cloud smart:

• In the last few years, federal departments and agencies have made great progress in leveraging the Cloud
• The recent publication of a Cloud adoption strategy aims to encourage using the Cloud, based on SMART principles
• The strategy aims to accelerate modernization of government applications in an agile, secure and cost-effective way

Shared Services Canada’s optional Cloud Brokering Service provides customers with self-serve access to commercial cloud services. Shared Services Canada acts as a bridge between customers and Cloud Service providers, offering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service level (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) public cloud services.

To support Government of Canada access to cloud supply, Shared Services Canada established Framework Agreements with eight leading Cloud Service Providers:

• Amazon Web Services, Inc.
• Google Cloud Canada Corporation
• IBM Canada Limited
• IPSS Inc., ServiceNow Inc. in Joint Venture
• Microsoft Corporation
• Oracle Canada ULC
• com Canada Corporation
• ThinkOn Inc.

The Framework Agreements provide departments with standardized terms and conditions, and cloud services that have been assessed by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the Contract Security Program. The Government has processes in place to ensure specified security requirements are met when awarding cloud contracts.

All pre-qualified suppliers and available cloud services are accessible in one place: the Government of Canada Cloud Services Portal.

The use of cloud services through Shared Services Canada grew from $1.4 million in the fiscal year 2019-20 to $156.9 million in the fiscal year 2022-23.