This is an important step in the implementation of the PA Cloud strategy, outlined by the three-year plan for information technology in the PA, which involves administrations and the market to:

• qualify homogeneous cloud computing services and infrastructures;
• create a public marketplace where services and infrastructures are exposed;
• support administrations in the migration to the Cloud.

The procedure for qualifying the cloud services is part of the path outlined by the AGID circulars of 9 April n.2 dedicated to the qualification of CSP services and n. 3 related to SaaS services.

With the determination n. 358 of 6 November 2018, AGID extends - from 20 November 2018 to 1 January 2019 - the terms for the qualification of cloud services CSP (Cloud Service Provider) and SaaS (Software as a Service), necessary for its acquisition from part of the administrations.

Suppliers and administrations interested in qualifying their Cloud services to be included in the marketplace must forward the request to AGID through the dedicated platform, within the "PA Cloud" website, authenticating with the public SPID digital identity system. Public and private stakeholders who want to qualify and enter the PA Cloud Marketplace must possess a set of requirements related to security, performance, organization, scalability, interoperability and portability previously established. The qualification request is transmitted electronically through the portal and can also be forwarded by third parties, who will appear as partners of the Cloud provider. It will then be the Agency for Digital Italy to carry out all the necessary checks to ascertain the truthfulness of the declarations and information provided.

Inside the Cloud Marketplace, it is possible to view the technical sheet of each service that informs about the characteristics, cost and service levels declared by the supplier. AgID goal is to create a PA Cloud environment characterized by safe, reliable and efficient services.

Cloud services subject to contracts still in progress do not need to be qualified until the contract expires.