AUGUSTA, Ga. — More than a dozen orders worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been awarded using the Pentagon’s landmark cloud-computing contract since its launch less than one year ago.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, on Aug. 16 said “13 different cloud task orders, over $200 million worth of value over the lifecycle,” have already been dished out with the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. An additional 13 are in the works, he said.
“I think that’s a success story,” Skinner said at the AFCEA TechNet Augusta conference in Georgia. “A whole bunch of different organizations are leveraging JWCC to date.”
The Pentagon in December 2022 selected Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle to furnish cloud services for the potential $9 billion JWCC, itself a successor to the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure arrangement. JEDI, valued at $10 billion, was scuttled after allegations of political interference and litigation.
The four companies are competing for jobs spanning unclassified, secret and top-secret designations, and are guaranteed only $100,000 each. Skinner did not say which companies won what orders. DISA serves as the Pentagon’s de facto information technology authority and is intimately involved with the cloud deal.
Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman in a memo made public earlier this month instructed defense agencies, military services and other offices to prioritize JWCC, including when dealing with the nation’s most sensitive data. The memo also said a number of existing cloud services will transition to JWCC upon expiration.
“We are working hand in hand with the Enterprise Cloud Management Agency and the other service cloud offerings to see how we can work together to make sure the department continues to get best value for their cloud capabilities and cloud hosting,” Skinner said.
The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity JWCC comprises a three-year base and one-year options, meaning work could be conducted through 2028.
Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covers military networks, cyber and IT. Colin previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.
