What is a Service Control Policy (SCP) used for in AWS?

Service Control Policies (SCPs) are a feature of AWS Organizations that allow you to manage permissions at a higher organizational level. They are used to define the maximum available permissions for accounts within an organization. By applying SCPs, you can control what services and actions are allowed or denied for entire organizational units (OUs) or individual accounts, even if directly attached IAM roles or policies would permit those actions.

SCPs do not grant permissions themselves; rather, they set the boundaries on what permissions can be granted to IAM users and roles. They are particularly useful in multi-account environments, where centralized governance is crucial. By implementing SCPs, you can ensure that all accounts comply with your organization's security and compliance policies, managing permissions consistently and effectively across your AWS environment.

The other options mentioned relate to different aspects of AWS functionality. Managing billing and cost allocation pertains to financial management; maintaining service availability is focused on operational resilience; and configuring networking options deals with setting up network resources and connectivity, which do not involve the management of user permissions within the organization.