Join the FSCAC: the five 2026 seats, how people applied, and what members do and do not get

In a June 2026 video, FedRAMP asked agency security chiefs and cloud providers to apply for five seats on its advisory committee. Applications closed at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on June 12, 2026.

By FedXchange · June 8, 2026

FedRAMP's video, on its governance tracker page. The player loads from YouTube only when you press play.

On June 8, 2026, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) posted a short video, "Join the FSCAC." In it, FedRAMP staff ask people to apply for open seats on the Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee (FSCAC), the committee that advises the General Services Administration (GSA) on FedRAMP. GSA published the formal call in a Federal Register notice on May 21, 2026.

In short:

What FedRAMP said. The committee had five seats to fill over 2026, three of them open at once. A FedRAMP speaker asked cloud service providers, especially those new to FedRAMP or working through FedRAMP 20x, to apply.
Who it affected. Agency Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), large cloud service providers, and small business cloud service providers.
What they had to do. Fill out GSA's online application form, and email a resume and a signed letter of endorsement to GSA.
By when. Applications closed at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, June 12, 2026. That deadline has passed. GSA's notice describes no other application period.

How the 2026 FSCAC application worked

Sources: Federal Register notice 2026-10233 (May 21, 2026) and the Join the FSCAC video (June 8, 2026).

Read the steps as text

GSA announced the seats. A Federal Register notice on May 21, 2026, listed five open or upcoming seats.
Applicants sent two parts. Each applicant filled out GSA's online form and emailed a resume and a signed letter of endorsement to fscac@gsa.gov.
Applications closed. The deadline was 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, June 12, 2026, four days after the committee's June 8 meeting.
A team reviewed them. A FedRAMP speaker said a team would go through the applications.
GSA appoints members. The GSA Administrator appoints members, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Which seats were open, and for how long?

In the video, a FedRAMP speaker said the committee would have five openings over the course of 2026, and that three were open right away: two federal CISO seats and one large cloud service provider seat. The other two were a second large cloud service provider seat and a small business cloud service provider seat, which would open later in the year.

GSA's May 21 notice matches that count:

Two agency CISO seats. These are for federal officials, who must stay in the CISO job for the whole time they serve.
Two large cloud service provider seats. One term starts when the member is appointed. The other starts on or around July 31, 2026.
One small business cloud service provider seat. The term starts on or around July 9, 2026.

Each term is three years. The notice says a member may not serve more than two terms in a row or more than six years in a row. Members are not paid, but GSA may pay travel costs.

At the June 8 meeting, the minutes record that the committee had 11 appointed members and 3 vacancies. The Designated Federal Officer encouraged qualified people to apply, especially for the two agency CISO seats.

How did someone apply, and by when?

GSA's notice set two required parts. An application missing either part would not be considered.

Fill out the online application form, linked from GSA's Federal Register notice.
Email a PDF of a resume and a signed letter of endorsement to fscac@gsa.gov, with the subject line "FSCAC APPLICATION—[Applicant Name]." The letter had to come from the applicant's organization's leadership and say the applicant may apply as the organization's representative. A chief executive needed a letter from another member of the executive team.

Letters of recommendation were optional.

The deadline was 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, June 12, 2026. FedRAMP's May 28, 2026, blog post gave the same deadline and pointed to GSA's FSCAC page to apply. The application period is over. As of November 10, 2026, we found no GSA or FedRAMP announcement naming who was appointed to these seats.

In the video, a speaker said FedRAMP kept applications open past the first meeting on purpose. People unsure about joining could attend the June 8 meeting first and see what the work is like.

Why did FedRAMP ask cloud providers new to FedRAMP to apply?

A FedRAMP speaker said FedRAMP made many changes to the program in the past year, including a new path. The speaker first called it an authorization type and then corrected it to a "certification type." FedRAMP now calls its approval a FedRAMP Certification. The FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026 opened FedRAMP 20x certification Classes A through C.

The speaker said it would be good to hear from the FedRAMP 20x community, which works with FedRAMP's newer approach to certification, and from vendors that have not gone through FedRAMP and still find it hard. The speaker asked those cloud service providers to join the committee and give their input.

What does a member get, and what does a member not get?

The speakers were plain about the limits.

It is an advisory committee. A speaker said it is "not a board" and "not an oversight body." The FedRAMP Board is a separate body. Federal policy and the Board set direction; the committee gives advice.
There is no special access. A speaker said joining "doesn't get you an in or anything with FedRAMP." Another speaker said FedRAMP staff can deal with the committee only in public, and that a member is a member of the public serving on a committee.
Its influence comes from agreement. One speaker said members do get to influence the direction of the program. Another speaker added that the committee does not influence FedRAMP more than the public does. What it can do, that speaker said, is give people a way to reach a shared opinion and use it to persuade others.
The time is limited, but FedRAMP wants commitment. A speaker said "it's not a huge commitment" and described five meetings a year. The law, 44 U.S.C. 3616, requires at least three meetings each calendar year, and GSA's 2026 meeting notice set four: June 8, July 27, August 31, and November 2. A speaker added: "We want you to care about FedRAMP."

These words are from the video's automatic captions, checked against the transcript.

What can agencies and cloud providers do now?

The 2026 application period has closed. Anyone can still follow the committee's work: its meetings are public, and GSA posted the June 8 meeting's agenda and minutes on its FSCAC meetings pages. Questions about membership go to the committee's Designated Federal Officer at fscac@gsa.gov.

Sources

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