The Department of Defense’s ambitious plan to expand the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract is set to target a wider range of cloud service providers beyond the four major hyperscale companies that were initially awarded the contract in 2022.
- Amazon Web Services
- Microsoft
- Oracle
These four major players will still be part of the JWCC Next contract, but the Department of Defense is now looking to include smaller cloud service providers and non-traditional companies that may not have been involved in the Department’s world before.
“JWCC Next will open the door” to these smaller companies, said Katie Arrington, the Department of Defense’s Chief Information Officer. “We are looking to expand the aperture. Competition breeds innovation, competition breeds efficiency.”
The JWCC contract is currently used by the Department of Defense and its various components to purchase a wide range of cloud services. In recent months, the department has been developing requirements for the JWCC Next contract, which will share similarities with the current contract but at a larger scale.
- Non-traditional companies
- Smaller cloud service providers
- Companies that bring innovative AI tools
- Companies that bring unique capabilities around satellites
- Companies that bring new ways to develop weaponry and business systems
These companies will be looked for by Katie Arrington, who will be responsible for releasing a draft request for proposals to industry.
The JWCC contract is just one of several multibillion-dollar cloud computing contracts across the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Other notable contracts include the CIA’s C2E cloud contract, which was awarded to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and IBM in 2020, and the NSA’s $10 billion cloud contract, known as WildandStormy, which was also awarded to Amazon Web Services. JWCC Next is expected to build on the success of the current JWCC contract and provide even more opportunities for innovation and efficiency. By expanding the scope of the contract to include more cloud service providers, the Department of Defense hopes to drive competition and stimulate growth in the cloud computing market. The Department of Defense’s expansion of the JWCC contract is a significant move in the field of cloud computing, and it is likely to have far-reaching implications for the industry as a whole.
As Katie Arrington noted, “If there’s a better, faster way to develop weaponry, absolutely all day.” And then, of course, business systems. Everything flows into business systems, so everything is on the table right now.
By including smaller cloud service providers and non-traditional companies in the JWCC Next contract, the Department of Defense is taking a proactive approach to driving innovation and efficiency in the cloud computing market.
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