Notice
The Whole of Government Hosting Strategy was last updated in March 2021, however its principles have been operationalised in the Hosting Certification Framework.
On 1 May 2023, the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) and the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) implemented a machinery-of-government (MoG) change to transfer functional responsibility for the DTA's cyber security-related policy functions to Home Affairs.
The machinery-of-government change involves the functional transfer of:
- the Hosting Certification Framework
- the responsibility for the hardening government IT (HGIT) initiative, including the Cyber Hubs pilot and Gateway Policy (previously referred to as Secure Internet Gateway Policy)
- other cyber policy related functions, including the Secure Cloud Strategy.
What is the Whole-of-Government Hosting Strategy?
The Hosting Strategy provides direction and guidance applicable to the Australian Government hosting ecosystem including facilities and infrastructure. It supports the government's commitment to privacy, security, and resilience, while improving the delivery of government services.
The Hosting Strategy is one of the whole-of-government digital policies and standards that the DTA uses to assess whether a digital or ICT-enabled investment proposal is robust, of high quality and can be brought forward for Government consideration.
Further detail on the requirements for agencies when bringing forward digital and ICT-enabled investment proposals for Government consideration can be found at the Contestability (Budget) stage of the Whole-of-Government Digital and ICT Oversight Framework.
Applicability
The strategy applies to all Non-corporate Commonwealth entities considering hosting solutions for arrangements that include the off-site hosting of data.
The strategy guides a defined approach to hosting arrangements that meets the needs of agencies to deliver on the Data and Digital Government Strategy. The scope comprises of data centre facilities, infrastructure, data storage and data transmission.