DocuSign Lands FedRAMP Authorization

Reflecting the continued momentum behind digital transformation across the U.S. government, DocuSign –the global eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) leader – today announced it has been granted authorization under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

DocuSign is now officially listed as FedRAMP Authorized in the FedRAMP Marketplace – the central repository where Federal agencies can select technology solutions. And today’s news – driven by an initial Authorization to Operate (ATO) sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – marks a seismic shift in the potential to reform the manual, paper-based processes and procedures currently in place across myriad Federal government agencies.

“It’s clear that Federal agencies are looking for cloud computing technology to help deliver the cost, agility and innovation benefits seen by the private sector, as well as state and local government, for years – all while maintaining privacy, security and compliance with FedRAMP and other government requirements,” said Dan Springer, CEO of DocuSign. “That’s why we’re so excited about being FedRAMP-authorized, and about being the only eSignature and DTM provider in the marketplace today.”

People depend on the Federal government for a diverse set of services and support – ranging from routine applications for passports or land use, to financial assistance for housing, education, and small businesses, to critical medical coverage and support in the event of a natural disaster. In response to ever-increasing demand, Federal agencies continuously struggle to provide higher quality service to customers within current budget constraints.

DocuSign helps to simplify and streamline that process of doing business by automating and digitizing paper-based workflows that require signatures. The company offers a cloud-based service to securely sign, send and manage agreements – anytime, anywhere, on any device – with trust and confidence.

This means that Federal agencies can now easily streamline internal operations to provide a fully-digital signing experience. They can prepare agreements securely using existing documents and data from existing systems, and specify the workflow to execute agreements with appropriate signer authentication controls and routing in place. All of which will help them accelerate government business.

It is also expected to positively impact the way agencies deliver services to citizens. In several existing governmental deployments, DocuSign has already delivered a series of tangible benefits, including:

• An 80% decrease in the time required to approve funding requests,
• Reduction in the time taken to create, sign and finalize welfare contracts from three weeks to less than an hour (and a 100% elimination of errors), and
• A 95% reduction in the time it takes for court report routing processes.

In addition, DocuSign includes advanced capabilities for the specific needs of Federal agencies:

• DocuSign for Federal Government – DocuSign delivers higher grade security exclusively for government agencies, delineating boundaries within its existing data centers and offering dedicated storage and encryption of agencies’ data. In addition, DocuSign supports many types of authentication – including Common Access Card (CAC) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) smart cards.
• Multiple signature options – DocuSign offers an extensive portfolio of digital and electronic signature solutions. For example, agency employees can digitally sign internal forms with X.509 certificates on their PIV smart cards or electronically sign agreements with government suppliers (e.g. vendors submitting invoices or organizations signing grant applications).

In order for the FCC to grant the ATO and to ultimately confirm FedRAMP authorization, DocuSign undertook a thorough and rigorous security review, which was successfully validated by a certified third-party assessment organization – a significant achievement that in turn demonstrates DocuSign’s commitment and investment in security and data protection to serve the Federal government.

Barton Phillips, the VP of public sector at DocuSign, noted that the company would begin working with the FCC itself almost immediately.

“For months now the FCC has shown a keen interest in bringing the benefits of eSignatures to bear on its procurement and HR processes – so that’s where we’re starting to help the agency’s digital transformation,” said Phillips. “Once we’ve shown the value there, we hope to help the FCC across a multitude of other use cases, and to expand and meet the needs of many other Federal agencies.”