Overview

The Authority to Operate (ATO) process allows the CWMS software to continue to operate on G6 infrastructure. Without an ATO, the servers would be shut off and district offices would have to find new ways to complete their water management mission. ATO is a continuous process, with a large formal review occurring every three years by a Security Control Assessor-Validator (SCA-V) team. The CWMS team regularly tracks changes to Security Technical Implementation Guidance (STIG) from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and verifies that CWMS software is operating and developed in a secure and reasonable fashion.

Accomplishments

The team completed work for the ATO renewal, including:

  • Updated STIG checklists
  • Updated Mass record
  • Updated information on relevant Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms)

The SCA-V review was completed successfully because of these actions. But due to issues between CIO/G6 and NetComm, the ATO was not renewed by the August 2023 deadline. The program has a 180-day extension while CIO/G6 resolves the issues.

Field Support and Technology Transfer

At this time the districts are not asked to participate in the ATO process.