WA SB6281

State agencies must conduct a comprehensive assessment analyzing all computing deployment models (public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, on-premises) before purchasing third-party commercial cloud computing services

Required assessment elements include life-cycle costs (maintenance, operations, software updates, data migration, ingress/egress fees), service level and business requirements, outage recovery speed, cybersecurity compliance, and hybrid cloud availability

Assessments must be submitted to the state agency and Office of Financial Management for review and approval at least 30 days before procuring any cloud computing service

Decision-makers must prioritize best stewardship of taxpayer dollars when approving or denying cloud service procurements

Institutions of higher education are exempt from these requirements; the legislature and judiciary may opt in through interagency agreements