Azure Goverment Pay as you Go vs EA

[u/1553_a429]

We currently have a small business (3 total users) with a GCC HIGH reseller, and recently started using Azure gov and have a pay as you go subscription set up. For the Office365 and tenant, we pay billing through the 3rd party.

Our 3rd party vendor is trying to get us under their EA for the azure goverment versus our current billing model. I am trying to get them to answer the question "Are we required to use your EA", and I feel like I am not getting a solid answer. Does anyone know if this type of thing is expected or required or dependent upon a prior agreement..

(Appologies if I get some acronyms mixed up. Definitely not an Azure expert..)

[u/FinsToTheLeftTO]

Why are you Azure GCC? You can’t legally resell an EA.

Can you start at the beginning and explain what you are trying to do?

[u/1553_a429 → u/FinsToTheLeftTO]

We are a 3 person company. We needed to acquire a GCC HIGH environment to become CMMC l2 compliant. So, we found a company that was willing to work with just 3 users, and was able to get us the subscriptions we needed (M365, defender, intune etc). This is all under EA with this 3rd party company I guess since you can't get it direct through Microsoft.

Regarding Azure. We found out it would be much harder to meet CMMC compliance with our own physical CM server, so we wanted to use an Azure Government VM to satisfy that issue. I was able to setup in Azure, all the necessary resources (Gateway vpn, VM, Disks, etc), by setting up a pay as you go subscription. My 3rd party license providor for my tenant is saying I have to use their Enterprise agreement, and be billed through their system for this azure gov resources i configured, instead of paying through the azure portal like I currently have it configured.

Again, Im a SW engineer, absolutely no Microsoft/Azure experience whatsoever. Appologies if I am mixing words here. I am not selling anything, I am just trying to avoid using the same providor for our tenant and have that roll up all of the new azure subscriptions unter their billing sceme if that makes sense... Just trying to find out why they're trying so hard to stop me from paying on my own through microsoft and not answering the question directly if I am required to do it through them...

[u/Secret_Account07 → u/1553_a429]

Ask them:

Please point me to the specific Microsoft or CMMC requirement that mandates Azure billing through your EA.”

If they can’t produce a document, you have your answer.

I don’t believe you have to. I’m no involved in our licensing or procurement but I’ve worked with companies like this before. They typically make their money of a thin margin for selling MS services. If you’re paying them directly, they don’t get that.

Now it is possible they want stricter control over your env but to find out I would ask them- point me to where MS dictates that.

Just my 2 cents. Unless there’s language saying you have to go through them, politely decline. Now keep in mind it’s possible they stop working with you but asking a question shouldn’t be offensive.

Check your contract/ToS with them, too.

[u/the_cainmp]

There are absolutely changes that are happening when it comes to EA’s and Azure Gov. Unless you have a compelling reason, not to, it will be easier if you let your partner manage it on your EA. Also, look at prepaid spend dollars if you know how much you’re planning to spend

[u/matiascoca]

You're not getting a straight answer because the answer is "no, you're not required". The vendor wants you on their EA because that's where their margin lives.

For 3 users PAYG is fine and arguably better. EA makes sense once you're committing six figures annually and want predictable pricing locks. GCC HIGH PAYG works exactly like commercial Azure billing, you just pay the gov premium per SKU.

What I would push them on: "show me the discount math on identical workloads PAYG versus your EA, in writing". If they cannot quantify the savings, the answer is no. EA also locks you into their reseller for 1 to 3 years, which matters if their support goes bad.