Azure Communication Services GCC Moderate Authorization

Question

According to documentation, "Azure Communication Services in Azure Government has achieved FedRAMP High accreditation as part of the Microsoft 365 Government Community Cloud (GCC) - High service offering. The service is now Generally Available (GA) and meets the requirements of FEDRAMP."

Does ACS have a similar authorization under GCC Moderate?

Answer 1

Based on the current Microsoft documentation, Azure Communication Services does not have a separately documented FedRAMP Moderate authorization for Microsoft 365 GCC Moderate.

The ACS government documentation specifically states that Azure Communication Services in Azure Government has achieved FedRAMP High accreditation as part of the Microsoft 365 GCC High service offering and is generally available.

The government-cloud interoperability documentation also shows the supported ACS cloud pairing as:

Microsoft 365 GCC + Azure Public: Not supported

Microsoft 365 GCC High + Azure Government: Supported

Therefore, based on the currently published ACS documentation, the government authorization explicitly documented for ACS is FedRAMP High through the GCC High/Azure Government offering, and I don't see a separate ACS FedRAMP Moderate authorization documented for GCC Moderate.

For reference, Microsoft does document FedRAMP Moderate requirements for the GCC environment generally, but that should not be interpreted as a separate FedRAMP Moderate authorization for ACS itself.

References:

Azure Communication Services for US Government

Support for government clouds

• Microsoft 365 Government – GCC deploymentsBased on the current Microsoft documentation, Azure Communication Services does not have a separately documented FedRAMP Moderate authorization for Microsoft 365 GCC Moderate. The ACS government documentation specifically states that Azure Communication Services in Azure Government has achieved FedRAMP High accreditation as part of the Microsoft 365 GCC High service offering and is generally available. The government-cloud interoperability documentation also shows the supported ACS cloud pairing as:
  • Microsoft 365 GCC + Azure Public: Not supported
  • Microsoft 365 GCC High + Azure Government: Supported
  Therefore, based on the currently published ACS documentation, the government authorization explicitly documented for ACS is FedRAMP High through the GCC High/Azure Government offering, and I don't see a separate ACS FedRAMP Moderate authorization documented for GCC Moderate. For reference, Microsoft does document FedRAMP Moderate requirements for the GCC environment generally, but that should not be interpreted as a separate FedRAMP Moderate authorization for ACS itself. References:
  • Azure Communication Services for US Government
  • Support for government clouds
  • Microsoft 365 Government – GCC deployments

Answer 2

No. The available documentation states that Azure Communication Services in Azure Government has FedRAMP High accreditation as part of the Microsoft 365 GCC High service offering. It does not indicate a similar ACS authorization under GCC Moderate.

Related context also shows cloud pairing support as:

• GCC with Public Azure: not supported for Azure Communication Services government cloud interop scenarios
• GCC High with Azure US Government: supported for specific guest scenarios

So, the documented ACS government authorization is tied to GCC High, not GCC Moderate.

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References:

• Azure Communication Services for US Government
• Support for government clouds
• Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform services compliance scope