Office 365 GCC

To meet the unique and evolving requirements of the United States Federal, State, Local, and Tribal governments, as well as contractors holding or processing data on behalf of the US Government, Microsoft offers the Office 365 Government GCC environment. Available through multiple channels including Volume Licensing, interested organizations go through a validation process to ensure eligibility before an environment is established. Trials are available to only US Government entities at this time.

Engage your account team or preferred partner to learn more or initiate the validation process. Additional information can be found on the Compare Office 365 Government Plans page.

How to use this service description

The Office 365 Government GCC service description is designed to serve as an overlay to the general Office 365 service description. It defines the unique commitments and differences compared to Office 365 for enterprise offerings.

US Government community compliance

Office 365 Government supports the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) accreditation at a High Impact level. FedRAMP artifacts are available for review by customers who are required to comply with FedRAMP. Federal agencies can review these artifacts in support of their review to issue an Authority to Operate (ATO).

Office 365 Government GCC environment screened personnel

Office 365 staff do not have standing access to customer content hosted in Office 365 Government GCC environment. Any staff who requests temporary permission elevation that would grant access to customer content must first have passed the following background checks.

Microsoft personnel screening and background checks1	Description
U.S. citizenship	Verification of U.S. citizenship
Employment history check	Verification of seven (7) year employment history
Education verification	Verification of highest degree attained
Social Security Number (SSN) search	Verification that the provided SSN is valid
Criminal history check	A seven (7) year criminal record check for felony and misdemeanor offenses at the state, county, and local level and at the federal level
Office of Foreign Assets Control List (OFAC)	Validation against the Department of Treasury list of groups with whom U.S. persons are not allowed to engage in trade or financial transactions
Bureau of Industry and Security List (BIS)	Validation against the Department of Commerce list of individuals and entities barred from engaging in export activities
Office of Defense Trade Controls Debarred Persons List (DDTC)	Validation against the Department of State list of individuals and entities barred from engaging in export activities related to the defense industry
Fingerprinting Check	Fingerprint background check against FBI databases
CJIS background screening	State-adjudicated review of federal and state criminal history by state CSA appointed authority within each state that has signed up for the Microsoft CJIS IA program

¹ Applies only to personnel with temporary or standing access to customer content hosted in Office 365 Government GCC environment.

Office 365 Government GCC and Viva Engage

Viva Engage for enterprise is not a component of Office 365 Government, but may be acquired at no cost as a standalone offer for each user licensed for Office 365 Government Plan E1 and E3. This offer is currently limited to customers who purchase Office 365 Government under Enterprise Agreement and Enterprise Subscription Agreements.

Currently, Viva Engage provides logical separation of customer data at the application layer. However, Viva Engage does not provide the same data location and data access features as Office 365 Government, does not support FedRAMP accreditation, and is subject to different contract terms from Office 365 services. It is recommended that you review the privacy terms when assessing the appropriate use of Viva Engage for your organization. To learn which Office 365 Government plans include Viva Engage, see Office 365 Government.

If you decide that the use of Viva Engage is appropriate for your organization as part of your Office 365 Government subscription and you have purchased one of the above-mentioned plans that includes Viva Engage, under your Enterprise Enrollment, you can request an amendment to enable your Viva Engage for enterprise subscription.

Office 365 Government GCC customer support

Office 365 GCC customer support is provided under the same terms and conditions offered to Worldwide versions of Office 365, including no support agent physical location or citizenship assurances. Office 365 GCC operates in conjunction with Azure Public Cloud, which is supported under the following terms and conditions.

Microsoft reminds you not to share any controlled, sensitive, or confidential information with Support Personnel as part of your Office 365 GCC related support incident, until you confirm their authorization to view or access such data. Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy. Office 365 GCC Customer Support is not included in the service accreditation boundary and does not provide FedRAMP, SRG, ITAR, IRS 1075, or CJIS data handling and/or compliance assurances.