The General Services Administration last week put out a request for information (RFI) on cloud computing, and in doing so asked the private sector to step up to the plate with proposals. The questions posed by GSA are instructive, and lay out a roadmap for the government's use of cloud computing.

The GSA, for example, wanted to know if vendors are willing to offer flexible, negotiated, customer-specific SLAs or only cookie-cutter versions. The GSA also sought assurances that data will remain within the continental U.S., and it strongly suggested it wants guarantees that the government can retrieve its data if it needs to terminate a contract.

Also on the agenda was a concern about who will own the intellectual property rights to "artifacts" developed or hosted in the cloud.

While all this may sound like one small step, it is an essential one to get government moving on cloud computing.

For more on GSA's RFI:
- see this CIO Insight article