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Tableau

What this guide covers

How to actually buy Tableau for a Maryland agency — which statewide vehicle you ride, which reseller fulfills the order, the FedRAMP/ATO path (and the trap between classic Tableau Government Cloud and the newer “Tableau Next”), and the functionality gates to clear before you sign.

Who it’s for

Engineering leads, data and analytics staff, and procurement officers at a Maryland State agency or education entity who have decided they need Tableau — dashboards, self-service BI, data visualization — and need the path from “we want it” to “it’s authorized and on contract.”

Part of the SaaS Catalog. For the vehicles themselves, see Maryland Master Contracts; for the process and thresholds, see Maryland Procurement.

Disclaimer. Not legal or procurement advice. FedRAMP authorizations, contract catalogs, and BPO numbers change as awards are renewed and authorizations are re-baselined. Verify every figure below against the FedRAMP Marketplace, the Carahsoft Maryland State Contracts page, and the DoIT Statewide Contracts hub before relying on it. Tableau is Salesforce-owned, and the FedRAMP picture spans more than one product — re-check which offering carries which baseline before relying on any figure here.

TL;DR

  • Category: Data and analytics — business intelligence / data visualization. Tableau is Salesforce-owned (see Salesforce).
  • Maryland vehicle: COTS 2012, BPO 060B2490021, via Carahsoft (Tableau is on the Carahsoft MD COTS publisher list); also reachable through Salesforce Government Cloud channels.
  • Reseller: Carahsoft is the primary public-sector aggregator.
  • Authorization: “Tableau Government Cloud” is FedRAMP Moderate (authorized 2021-01-25, GSA-sponsored). The newer “Tableau Next” on the Salesforce platform reportedly reached FedRAMP High (~Aug 2025) — a different product, volatile/unverified.
  • The ATO trap: Classic Tableau Government Cloud is Moderate, not High. If you need High, that is Tableau Next / a different Salesforce boundary — do not conflate the two.

What This Tool Is

Tableau is a SaaS business-intelligence and data-visualization platform — interactive dashboards, self-service analytics, and published data sources for non-engineer analysts. It is Salesforce-owned, so its FedRAMP and contracting story increasingly overlaps the Salesforce platform’s (see Salesforce). In this stack it is the commercial, managed, FedRAMP-authorized BI path; the self-hostable BI alternatives are Apache Superset and Metabase (see Tools and Software). Agencies reach for Tableau when they want a managed BI platform with an authorized government boundary instead of operating an OSS BI stack themselves — which turns a $0-license choice into a procurement-and-ATO exercise. This page is that exercise.

Which Maryland Vehicle

VehicleBPOHow Tableau rides it
COTS 2012060B2490021The primary path. Tableau appears on Carahsoft’s Maryland COTS publisher catalog; you issue an order against the COTS master contract and Carahsoft fulfills it.
Salesforce Government Cloud channels(via Salesforce — confirm)Because Tableau is Salesforce-owned, it may also be reachable through Salesforce’s own statewide vehicle (Salesforce Licenses 2023, BPO 001B3600044). Confirm whether your Tableau buy rides COTS or the Salesforce contract before quoting.

The same publisher can be reachable through more than one Carahsoft vehicle, and which one you ride affects ceiling pricing, terms, and which approvals apply — see Maryland Master Contracts → Where Carahsoft Fits. Tableau is on the reproduced publisher list in Software Publishers Under Carahsoft’s MD COTS.

Resellers and Pricing Path

Carahsoft is Tableau’s primary public-sector aggregator and the reseller holding the Maryland awards. You do not buy a “Carahsoft contract” — Carahsoft fulfills your order against the COTS master contract. Request a quote referencing the Maryland COTS BPO 060B2490021 so the order is priced against the statewide ceiling rather than commercial list price. Tableau is licensed per-user by role (Creator, Explorer, Viewer), so the quote depends on how many of each role you provision — size all three before you ask. Because Tableau is Salesforce-owned, confirm whether a larger deal is better priced through the Salesforce vehicle; do not assume COTS is the only path.

Authorization and ATO

AttributeValue
Authorized offeringTableau Government Cloud
FedRAMP statusAuthorized — Moderate (authorized 2021-01-25, GSA-sponsored)
Marketplace IDNot provided — locate the current “Tableau Government Cloud” listing via the FedRAMP Marketplace search; do not assume an ID
Newer product (different boundary)Tableau Next on the Salesforce platform reportedly reached FedRAMP High (~Aug 2025) — volatile/unverified, a different product
GovRAMP (StateRAMP)Not confirmed — verify on the GovRAMP product list

The single thing to get right for the ATO: classic Tableau Government Cloud is FedRAMP Moderate, not High. If your system’s data classification requires High, that is not standard Tableau Government Cloud — it is Tableau Next (a Salesforce-platform product) or a different Salesforce boundary, and the reported ~Aug 2025 High authorization for Tableau Next is volatile and unverified. Do not conflate the two products: they are different boundaries with different control sets. Confirm the current baseline and which product it attaches to on the Marketplace before you commit, and re-verify the Tableau Next claim directly with Salesforce/Carahsoft.

Functionality Gates to Verify

Clear these before price comparison — any one can disqualify the buy regardless of cost. See the canonical list in Tools and Software → Enterprise Functionality.

GateTableau-specific note
SSO (SAML/OIDC) + SCIMSupported; confirm SCIM de-provisioning is included at your plan, not gated to a higher tier.
Audit logsAvailable; confirm retention meets your records policy.
RBACSite roles and project-level permissions supported; map to least-privilege before rollout.
Data residency / FedRAMP boundaryTableau Government Cloud (Moderate) is the residency answer for Moderate — see above; High is a different product.
Accessibility (VPAT/ACR)Request Tableau’s current VPAT; Maryland’s Nonvisual Access (NVA) requirement applies to the procurement.
BAA / DPARequired if any visualized data could carry PII/PHI; confirm availability for the government offering.

Procurement Steps

  1. Confirm the need over the OSS alternative. Tableau replaces the self-hostable Apache Superset / Metabase BI stack ($0 license) — see Tools and Software. Document why managed, FedRAMP-authorized BI is worth the spend — that rationale is the core of the budget justification.
  2. Register / confirm eMMA. Your agency and the reseller must be set up in eMMA.
  3. Pick the vehicle. Default to COTS 060B2490021; confirm whether a Salesforce-channel path (Salesforce Licenses 2023) prices better for a larger deal.
  4. Get a Carahsoft quote referencing the BPO, sized to your Creator/Explorer/Viewer seat counts, for the Tableau Government Cloud offering.
  5. Check the threshold. The order’s dollar value drives the method — purchasing card, small procurement, or BPW review. See Maryland Procurement → how the value picks the path. Do not split a buy to dodge a threshold.
  6. Run the ATO package. Inherit the FedRAMP Moderate controls for Tableau Government Cloud; document the rest. If you need High, confirm the Tableau Next boundary separately first — it is a different product.
  7. Issue the order against the vehicle once approvals clear.

Sources

ClaimSource
Tableau Government Cloud FedRAMP listing (Moderate)FedRAMP Marketplace — locate “Tableau Government Cloud” (no ID provided — confirm the current listing)
Tableau public-sector / federal offeringTableau — Public Sector / Federal & Defense
Tableau Next FedRAMP High (~Aug 2025, different product)Salesforce — FedRAMP High on the Salesforce platform (volatile/unverified)
Tableau on the Maryland COTS catalogCarahsoft — Maryland State Contracts

Tableau is Salesforce-owned and its FedRAMP picture spans two products at two baselines. Re-verify which offering (classic Government Cloud at Moderate vs. Tableau Next at High) matches your data classification against the Marketplace before relying on any figure here.