The situation within federal government and the Cloud First Mandates introduced by former federal CIO Vivek Kundra in 2011, is a little like the chicken or egg question. Agencies are required to consider cloud options before new investments, but they’re way behind because of lack of skills. And the price tag to develop those skills is between $25k and $50k. So while there's cost savings with cloud, getting to the cloud costs money. This is all according to a study released by Accenture this week that also found only 30% of agency respondents are developing cloud strategies.

Accenture tech solutions managing director Annette Rippert (right), here with colleague Lisa Mitnick, says the study results weren’t all that surprising based on interaction she’s had with the company’s government customers. She says cloud is really an emerging area and it requires a broad set of skills, from how to adopt a cloud strategy to actual implementation. She says the Interior Department has been leading the charge in Cloud First with its Foundation Cloud Hosting IDIQ and hiring the best and the brightest in the industry.