Office 365 Government
Important
Microsoft Teams is experiencing a tremendous spike in online calls and audio/video conferencing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In response to the unprecedented increase in calls, and to ensure continuity and availability, Microsoft is allowing Microsoft Teams GCC audio/video servers to leverage processing capacity in our commercial datacenters, as well as in our government datacenters.
These audio/video servers reside within the Microsoft Azure FedRAMP High accreditation boundary servers in the United States and do not store any customer content. However, these servers are processing audio and video for calls and conferences and are operating under our commercial staff during this interim period.
Qualified, screened personnel are monitoring these servers for potential access to customer data by reviewing any interactive log-ons to these servers. Qualified personnel meet GCC requirements for access to customer content. For details about screening requirements, see the GCC service description.
Thank you for your support as we take steps to ensure that our services remain available and reliable in these extraordinary times.
In response to the unique and evolving requirements of the United States public sector, Microsoft has created Office 365 Government plans (or Office 365 Government). This service description provides an overview of features that are specific to Office 365 Government US environments. We recommend that you read this service description alongside other Microsoft 365 and Office 365 service descriptions.
How to use this service description
The Office 365 Government 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 Enterprise offerings.
About Office 365 Government environments
Office 365 Government plans are monthly subscriptions and can be licensed to an unlimited number of users.
The Office 365 GCC environment provides compliance with federal requirements for cloud services, including FedRAMP High, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS), and requirements for criminal justice and federal tax information systems (CJI and FTI data types).
The Office 365 GCC High and DoD environments deliver compliance with Department of Defense Security Requirements Guidelines, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS), and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
In addition to the features and capabilities of Office 365, the organizations that use Office 365 Government benefit from the following features unique to Office 365 Government:
Your organization's customer content is logically segregated from customer content in Microsoft's commercial Office 365 Services.
Your organization's customer content is stored within the United States.
Access to your organization's customer content is restricted to screened Microsoft personnel.
Office 365 Government complies with certifications and accreditations that are required for US Public Sector customers.
Customer eligibility
Office 365 Government is available to (1) US federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government entities, and (2) other entities that handle data that is subject to government regulations and requirements and where use of Office 365 Government is appropriate to meet these requirements, subject to validation of eligibility. Validation of eligibility by Microsoft will include confirmation of handling data subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), law enforcement data subject to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Policy, or other government-regulated or controlled data. Validation may require proof of registration with the U.S. Department of State for ITAR data or sponsorship by a government entity with specific requirements for the handling of data. The Office 365 DoD environment is for the exclusive use of the United States Department of Defense.
While eligibility criteria are consistent across Office 365 Government offerings, Microsoft will only agree to ITAR contract language for the GCC High environment.
Entities with questions about eligibility for Office 365 Government should consult their account team.
Upon renewal of a customer's contract for Office 365 Government, revalidation of eligibility is required.
Customer content located within the United States
Office 365 Government services are provided from datacenters physically located in the United States. Customer content is stored at rest in datacenters physically located only in the U.S.A. This includes but isn't limited to:
- Exchange Online mailbox content (email bodies, calendar entries, and the content of e-mail attachments)
- SharePoint Online site content and the files stored within that site
- Microsoft Teams persistent chat threads
- Skype for Business archived conversations, uploaded documents, and whiteboarding sessions
- Microsoft Planner plans
- Forms data
- PowerApps/PowerAutomate data
Office 365 Government and third-party services
Office 365 provides the ability to integrate third-party applications into SharePoint Online sites, Teams, Office applications included in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), and Outlook Web App. In addition, Office 365 supports integration with third-party service providers. These third-party applications and services might involve storing, transmitting, and processing your organization's customer data on third-party systems that are outside of the Office 365 infrastructure and therefore aren't covered by the Office 365 compliance and data protection commitments. It's recommended that you review the privacy and compliance statements provided by the third parties when assessing the appropriate use of these services for your organization.
Restricted data access by administrators
Access to Office 365 Government customer content by Microsoft administrators is restricted to screened personnel. For personnel screening details, refer to the service description page for each respective environment (GCC or GCC High and DoD).
FastTrack Center onboarding assistance
For information about FastTrack Center onboarding assistance, see Data Migration - FastTrack – Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn.
Data migrations performed by FastTrack
For information about Data migrations performed by FastTrack, see Data Migration - FastTrack – Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn.
Office 365 US Government and Azure Government ExpressRoute
Office 365 US Government customers can use Azure Government ExpressRoute services to connect privately to supported Office 365 services instead of connecting over the public internet.
For details, such as supported providers, pricing models, and more, review the Azure ExpressRoute information.
For details on Office 365 support for Azure ExpressRoute, see Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365.
System requirements
For system requirements for Office 365 US Government plans, see System requirements for Office on the office.com products site.
Microsoft Defender portal and Microsoft Purview compliance portal
For more information, links, availability, and information about the Microsoft Defender portal and the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, see Microsoft 365 Guidance for security & compliance.
Service availability for each plan
Each Office 365 plan includes a number of individual services, such as Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. The following table shows the services that are available in each Office 365 US Government plan.
| Office 365 service | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 for the web | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Exchange Online | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online Protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SharePoint Online | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OneDrive for Business | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Skype for Business (Instant Messaging & Presence) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Power BI Pro | No1 | No1 | Yes | No1 |
| Project Online | No1 | No1 | No1 | No1 |
| Voice - Phone System, Audio Conferencing | No1 | No1 | Yes3 | No |
| Visio for the web | No4 | No4 | No4 | No4 |
| Viva Engage2 | No2 | No2 | No2 | No2 |
1 Not included but can be purchased as a separate add-on. Project Online includes Project Online Desktop Client as a part of the subscription.
2 Viva Engage Enterprise is not a component of Office 365 US Government, but may be acquired at no cost as a standalone offer for each user licensed for Office 365 in GCC. This offer is currently limited to customers that purchase Office 365 GCC under Enterprise Agreements and Enterprise Subscription Agreements. Viva Engage is not available in GCC High or DoD.
3 Calling Plan is an add-on (add language or bring your own trunk).
4 Not included but can be purchased as a separate add-on. Visio for the web includes the Visio desktop app as a part of the subscription.
Platform features
The following table lists the platform features and services that are available across the Office 365 US Government plans.
| Feature | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office 365 administration | ||||
| Use the Microsoft 365 admin center to administer Office 365 | Yes13 | Yes13 | Yes | Yes13 |
| Manage core service settings from Office 365 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Use Windows PowerShell to manage Office 365 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Protect content by using Azure Information Protection | No1 | Yes12 | Yes12 | Yes12 |
| Office 365 suite features | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Microsoft Bookings | No | Yes18 | Yes18 | No |
| Microsoft Power Automate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Forms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yes |
| Microsoft Graph API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Viva Insights | Yes14 | Yes14 | Yes14 | No |
| Microsoft Viva Connections | Yes24 | Yes24 | Yes24 | Yes24 |
| Microsoft Planner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft PowerApps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shifts for Teams (replaces Microsoft StaffHub)23 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Stream (Classic) | Yes16, 21 | Yes16, 21 | Yes16, 21 | Yes16, 17, 21 |
| Microsoft Stream (on SharePoint) | Yes22 | Yes22 | Yes22 | Yes22 |
| Microsoft Sway | No | No | No | No |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office Delve | Yes14 | Yes14 | Yes14 | Yes14 |
| Office 365 Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| User account management | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Cloud identity, Federated identity, or Multi-factor authentication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office 365 desktop setup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage users with Office 365 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk upload using .csv files | Yes7 | Yes7 | Yes7 | Yes7 |
| Directory Sync tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange simple (cutover) migration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Delete accounts and reset user passwords from Microsoft 365 or by using Windows PowerShell3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Users can change their own password4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage licenses | Yes5, 6 | Yes5, 6 | Yes5, 6 | Yes5, 6 |
| Manage security groups from Office 365 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple administrator roles available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Allow a partner to administer Office 365 for you | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 | Yes9 |
| Microsoft Entra services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domains | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Add custom 2nd-level domains, like fourthcoffee.com | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Add custom 3rd-level domains, like marketing.fourthcoffee.com | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Add up to 900 custom domains | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domain ownership verification required for custom domains | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service health and continuity | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Status information available on the Service health or Service status page | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Status of individual alerts available on the Microsoft 365 admin center dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service health RSS feed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reports | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Activity reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Graph Usage Reports APIs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Graph API (BETA) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service updates | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Regular updates provided to all customers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Notifications sent to Message Center when action is required | Yes14 | Yes14 | Yes14 | Yes14 |
| Roadmap.office.com for some service updates | No10, 12 | No10, 12 | No10, 12 | No10, 12 |
| Option to turn on Targeted Release | Yes8 | Yes8 | Yes8 | Yes8 |
| Help and training | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Online help | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Community | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Other self-help resources | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-paced training | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Networking | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| IPv4 and IPv6 protocols | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trust | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Privacy, security, and transparency | ||||
| Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly Microsoft Cloud App Security) | No10, 16 | No10, 16 | Yes16 | No10, 16 |
| Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | No10, 15 | No10, 15 | Yes15 | No10, 15 |
| Microsoft Purview Customer Lockbox | No10 | No10 | Yes | No10 |
| Microsoft Purview Customer Key19 | No | No | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium) | No10 | No10 | Yes | No10 |
| Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Standard) | No10 | No10 | Yes | No10 |
| Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard)20 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Purview Audit (Premium)20 | No | No | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Secure Score11 | Yes7, 12 | Yes7, 12 | Yes7, 12 | Yes7, 12 |
| Threat Intelligence | No10 | No10 | Yes | No10 |
| Compliance | ||||
| SAS 70 / SSAE16 Assessments | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ISO 27001 certified | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EU Model Clauses | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EU Safe Harbor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA-Business Associate Agreement | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FISMA Authority to Operate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Data Processing Agreement | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS Level One | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PCI-governed PAN data | No | No | No | No |
| BlackBerry | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| Use BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) | No2 | No2 | No2 | No2 |
| Partners | ||||
| Create trial invitations and purchase orders for a customer who is using the specified plan | No9 | No9 | No9 | No9 |
| Provide delegated administration | No9 | No9 | No9 | No9 |
| Service Level Agreement | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Product use rights | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
1 Azure Information Protection is not included but can be purchased as a separate add-on and will enable the supported Information Rights Management (IRM) features. Some Azure Information Protection features require a subscription to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, which is not included with Office 365 Government G1.
2 Existing BBCS and BIS customers can continue use of the service. New customers are not being accepted.
3 If using directory synchronization, you must delete accounts or change passwords by using Active Directory, rather than the Office 365 portal or by using the Microsoft Entra module for Windows PowerShell.
4 To learn how to set self-service password management policies for users, see Reset your work or school password using security info.
5 Reducing seats that were purchased with a term discount may be subject to an early termination fee. This is not applicable to subscriptions paid on a monthly basis.
6 The following plans do not support license seat changes from the Microsoft 365 admin center: Office 365 Government G1, Office 365 Government G3, Office 365 Government F3.
7 Not yet available in GCC High, but coming soon.
8 For Office 365 Government G1, G3, and F3, Office 365 for business roadmap apply; however, there may be some differences or delays for specific service updates due to compliance requirements.
9 Not yet available in Office 365 Government offerings, but coming soon.
10 Not included, but can be purchased as a separate add-on in GCC.
11 Available at https://securescore.office.com. Requires admin permissions. For more information, see Microsoft Secure Score.
12 Not yet available in DoD environment, but coming soon.
13 Admin center does not include usage analytics in DoD or GCC High environments.
14 Viva Insights for personal insights is available in GCC, GCC High (excluding Headspace) and DoD (excluding Headspace and Praise). The Viva Insights Outlook add-in and inline suggestions are not available in GCC High and DoD. The Viva Insights subscription is available in GCC but not in GCC High and DoD.
15 Anti-phishing for user and domain impersonation and spoof intelligence are not yet available in GCC High and DoD.
16 Not yet available in GCC environment but coming soon.
17 Consumption only for Microsoft Stream: no publishing or sharing.
18 Not available for the Microsoft Graph API or Microsoft Teams.
19 For more information, see Service encryption with Customer Key.
20 Audit in Microsoft 365 provides organizations with visibility into many types of audited activities across different services in Microsoft 365. Use the Security & Compliance Portal audit log search to view user and administrator activity in your organization. You can also use the Office 365 Management Activity API to retrieve events from the unified audit log. When an audited activity is performed by a user or admin, an audit record is generated and stored in the audit log for the customer organization. The length of time that an audit record is retained (and searchable in the audit log) depends on the customer's Office 365 or Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscription and the type of license assigned to specific users.
21 Stream (classic) will eventually be replaced with Stream (on SharePoint).
22 Stream (on SharePoint) is used to upload your videos to SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams. This is already supported in all Government offerings. Additional enhancements like the Stream start page in Office, closed captions, transcripts, etc are on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap.
23 Shifts for Teams is available in all Enterprise SKUs where Teams is available. Shifts is available in GCC environments, but not in GCC High or DoD environments.
24 Viva Connections is available in G3/G5 (and in G1/F3 with an add-on) on mobile and tablet devices in GCC, GCC High and DoD environments with the exception of Announcements and Analytics features.
Office application availability and enterprise value
The following table shows the Office application features that are available across Office 365 US Government plans.
| Application/feature | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office applications | ||||
| Microsoft Word7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Excel7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft PowerPoint7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft OneNote7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Outlook7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Forms7 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Whiteboard7 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Publisher | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Access | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Skype for Business | Yes3 | Yes | Yes | Yes3 |
| Office for Mac for Office 365 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Office Mobile for iPad/iPhone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office Mobile for Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office Mobile for Windows Phone | Yes | Yes4 | Yes4 | Yes |
| Office Mobile for Windows 10 tablets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook for iOS and Android5, 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise value | Office 365 Government G1 | Office 365 Government G3 | Office 365 Government G5 | Office 365 Government F3 |
| 5 installs per user on PC or Mac | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Automated user account provisioning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multilingual user interface | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Client push deployment | No | Yes4 | Yes4 | No |
| Client support for on-premises Exchange | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Client support for on-premises SharePoint | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Control of software updates | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Database Compare | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Desktop virtualization | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Excel Spreadsheet Compare | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Excel Spreadsheet Inquire | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Exchange Online and SharePoint Online Archiving and Compliance | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Group Policy support8 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cloud Policy support9 | Yes10 | Yes | Yes | Yes11 |
| Information Rights Management using Azure Information Protection | No1 | Yes6 | Yes6 | No1 |
| Information Rights Management using Windows Server AD RMS | Yes2 | Yes2 | Yes2 | Yes2 |
| Office Add-in, ActiveX, and BHO support | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| OneNote client access to notebooks on SharePoint Server, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Office 365 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Office Lens | No | No | No | No |
| Office Telemetry | No | Yes4 | Yes4 | No |
| Offline support for client applications | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Optimized side-by-side client installation | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| 3D Maps(Power Map for Excel) | No | No | No | No |
| Power Pivot for Excel | No | Yes4 | Yes4 | No |
| Power Query for Excel | No | Yes4 | Yes4 | No |
| Roaming settings | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Shared computer activation | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Support for blocking cloud-based file storage | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Version upgrades | No | Yes4 | Yes4 | No |
| Volume activation (KMS/MAK) | No | No | No | No |
1 Azure Information Protection is not included but can be purchased as a separate add-on and will enable the supported Information Rights Management (IRM) features. Some Azure Information Protection features require a subscription to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, which is not included with Office 365 Government G1 or Office 365 Government F3.
2 Windows Server AD RMS is an on-premises server that must be purchased and managed separately to enable the supported IRM features.
3 Skype for Business Basic is available for all customers. The Skype for Business desktop client is a locally installed application that provides presence, instant messaging, and conferencing features for Office 365 plans that include Skype for Business Online. Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, and Office 365 Enterprise E3 include the full Skype application, which includes additional features such as advanced telephony support, archiving, and compliance features. A Skype for Business Online license must be assigned for each user. For more information on Lync Basic features, see Skype for Business Online client comparison tables.
4 Not yet available in GCC High or DoD environments, but coming soon.
5 See Using Outlook for iOS and Android in the Government Community Cloud for more details.
6 Not yet available in Office 365 DoD environment, but coming soon.
7 Applications are fully available in the government clouds, with the exception of the specific features not available at this time. See Office application feature availability for details.
8 Group Policy support is only available in the Windows version of Microsoft 365 Apps.
9 Cloud Policy service is not available in GCC High or DoD environments.
10 Limited to policies for web apps.
11 Limited to policies for web apps.