Databricks Achieves FedRAMP High Authorization for AWS GovCloud

Hires industry veteran Mike Daniels to lead public sector practice amid rapidly growing demand for data intelligence 

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27, 2025 /CNW/ -- Amid the growing momentum of its Public Sector business, Databricks, the Data and AI company, announced today that it has received Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP®) High authorization from the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO) for its Data Intelligence Platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud. This authorization builds on the company's support for Department of Defense (DoD) Impact Level 5 (IL5) Provisional Authorization (PA) and Azure Databricks' FedRAMP High and IL5 authorizations, demonstrating a continued commitment to meeting the federal government's requirements for handling highly sensitive Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). In addition to Databricks' investments to make its commercial products FedRAMP authorized, the data intelligence leader strengthened its leadership team, hiring Mike Daniels as Vice President and General Manager of Public Sector.

Public sector organizations have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of their citizens with data. Yet, these organizations face significant challenges because of the lack of modern commercial cloud technology available to them. This often results in bespoke software development or the use of old technology that isn't capable of unlocking the value of their data or leveraging AI. The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform helps more than 400 public sector and related organizations, including 80% of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government, harness the power of their data for analytics, machine learning and AI applications. Built on an open source foundation, the platform enables organizations to drive innovation to increase revenue, lower costs, and reduce risk. Public sector customers use the Data Intelligence Platform to improve national security, streamline the path to citizenship, protect against fraud and waste and optimize government operations.

FedRAMP High Authorization on AWS GovCloud
By achieving FedRAMP High authorization on AWS GovCloud, Databricks enables government agencies and organizations that work with the U.S. government to accelerate innovation while minimizing risk when working with highly sensitive private and public sector data. Now, these agencies have access to commercially available technology, including the ability to leverage the latest innovations in agentic AI, while complying with the privacy, security, and related controls required by the U.S. government.

"Working with public sector organizations for more than a decade, we know how critical it is for global governments to modernize in order to complete their mission. Data is a critical part of decision-making in the government and Databricks is enabling government agencies to understand their organization's data, identify waste, pass audits, and gain efficiencies — all while remaining secure and compliant," said Rory Patterson, Chairman of the Board of Databricks Federal. "We've completed countless transformative public sector projects, modernizing these agencies with our Data Intelligence Platform, but we know we can still do more to help agencies transform into the organizations of the future. With a significant increase in demand over the last two years for our commercial platform in the Public Sector, I am incredibly excited Mike is joining us to lead its continued growth and help us unblock more public sector programs and showcase what is possible when the government has access to modern commercial software."

Mike Daniels Joins as VP and GM of Public Sector
With more than 30 years of industry leadership, Mike Daniels will lead Databricks' growing Public Sector practice. He will be responsible for ensuring public sector customers successfully adopt the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to achieve their organizations' missions. He will also help scale Databricks' Public Sector go-to-market operations. Prior to Databricks, Daniels held several public sector sales leadership positions, including roles at Google, Salesforce, Oracle, and UiPath.

"Every public sector organization wants to leverage data and AI to fuel efficiency and innovation and drive their missions forward. We want to make that as easy, collaborative and cost-effective as possible for them while upholding the security standards and protocols these agencies require," said Daniels. "Today, building domain-specific AI applications on your trusted data — what we call data intelligence — is an imperative. I am thrilled to join Databricks to help more public sector agencies drive value for their organizations with the most innovative data and AI platform on the market."

Community and Department of Defense Offerings on AWS GovCloud
To help more public sector organizations access the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform in compliance with FedRAMP High, DoD IL5, and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Databricks AWS GovCloud DoD and Databricks AWS GovCloud Community offerings are now generally available. The Databricks AWS GovCloud DoD offering is available exclusively for the DoD, while the Government Community offering is available for non-DoD government agencies and contractors.

Join Databricks and its government customers and partners on Thursday, March 27, at the third annual Databricks Public Sector Forum, a full-day program for leaders to learn more about Databricks' solutions for the Public Sector and how data intelligence can enable the mission of government. To learn more about Databricks' federal government customers, visit the Data Intelligence Platform for Public Sector page. Find more information on security and FedRAMP compliance of Databricks services in the Databricks Security and Trust Center.

About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Block, Comcast, Condé Nast, Rivian, Shell and over 60% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to take control of their data and put it to work with AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on X, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Databricks