A self-governing, self-healing and self-optimizing policy oriented grid architecture. The architecture can include a hosting service configured for use in a computing grid. The hosting service can include a Web service; grid instrumentation coupled to the Web service; a Web service descriptive document; and, a service policy element disposed in the Web service descriptive document. The Web service descriptive document can include a WSDL type document. Moreover, at least one WSLA can be referenced in the WSDL type document. Notably, the service policy element can include at least one policy selected from the group consisting of a security assertion and a business rule. The security assertion can include a security assertion markup language (SAML) formatted authentication statement having a subject specifying a role identifier.