GCC HIGH vs GCC

Question

Can a DoD contractor get into the GCC cloud or do they have to go to the GCC High cloud? What is the main difference between the two and how can you get into each one?

Answer 1

Hello @William Hennessy ,

A DoD contractor may have work which may require them to hold or process DoD controlled unclassified information (CUI ) and hence comply to stricter data handling requirements and other regulations due to which a DoD contractor have to go to the GCC high Cloud.

GCC is Government Community Cloud instance is one of the environments which provides access to government Community Cloud for public sector organizations and contractor organizations servicing them. The main difference between them is the US Gov / DoD compliance standards that they confirm to . Also there are some minor Offie365 feature related changes to remain in compliance. Some features might have different

GCC	**GCC High **
- GCC provides FedRamp Moderate, CJIS, IRS 1075, DISA SRG L2 controls compliance assurances	GCC High provides FedRamp High, ITAR, DFARS, DOD SRG L4 Controls, IRS 1075, or CJIS data handling compliance assurances
- Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online Archiving, Skype for Business, and Office for the web have features that can support customers' CJIS requirements for law enforcement agencies, and IRS-1075 requirements for customers who handle FTI.	- Support for integrating on-premises IP-PBX systems with Exchange Online Unified Messaging is not supported in GCC High and DoD subscriptions.
- PSTN Calling & PSTN Conferencing on Skype for business is available in GCC	- PSTN Calling & PSTN Conferencing on Skype for business is not available in GCC high due to PSTN use requirements

In order to get to any one of the government plans , you require to be eligible entity as described by US laws. In order to buy any of the government community cloud plans , you would require to fill up a organizational eligibility form and work with a accredited Microsoft partner or Microsoft account team to place and order. Only few select partners are accredited to sell US Gov licenses. I have added different links pointing to related articles which contain this same information in detail.

Hope this helps. If the information provided in this post helps you , please do mark this as answer so that this is helpful for other members of community searching for similar queries . In case of further queries , let us know in comments and we will be happy to help.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hi @William Hennessy

There are several factors in this decision making and rather or not one version of the platform is most suitable. Microsoft recommends GCC High for companies pursuing CMMC Level 3 and above, and a DoD contractor with certain types of CUI will likely need to operate in GCC High. Also, interoperability (B2B) with Microsoft 365 Commercial and Microsoft 365 DoD can be major deciding factors for some. Below are several articles and videos that tease out this discussion and talk through more of that logic.

Microsoft 365 GCC vs GCC High Guide

Microsoft 365 GCC vs GCC High Video Presentation

What is Microsoft 365 GCC? DoD Contractor Perspective

What is Microsoft 365 GCC High? DoD Contractor Perspective

Microsoft Expands Support for the DIB – Announcing Support for DFARS in Microsoft 365 Government

Answer 3

I have found docs on autopilot not supported in GCCH and DOD. However, there are no docs on whether or not autopilot can be supported in GCC environment. Can someone tell me if autopilot can be utilized in a GCC environment?