The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is looking for new partners in its Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) program.

As reported by Defense Scoop, DISA is exploring working with small businesses that can offer “a wide range of information technology” services.

The $9bn JWCC program was awarded in December 2022 to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google, and Oracle. It replaced the previous Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which was announced in 2018, and is set to be worth $10bn over ten years.

At the time of awarding JWCC, the Department of Defense (DoD) said: "The purpose of this contract is to provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels, from the strategic level to the tactical Edge.”

Now, the JWCC is opening up to smaller providers. In a notice published to SAM.gov and titled “JWCC Engineering and PMO Support,” DISA notes that the “JWCC requires highly skilled services to support office operations, and the delivery of modern enterprise cloud serviced [sic] and related technologies.

“These services must include technical expertise in cloud engineering, cybersecurity, financial management, program execution support, and technical writing through direct support of system owners and technical experts regarding various challenges with migration to the cloud and leveraging commercial cloud technologies."

The contract will be “performed” at both DISA facilities inside and outside the US, and possibly other government sites.

Applicants must have experience with “multi-cloud deployments across different Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), encompassing off-premises, on-premises, hybrid, and tactical edge environments” and “demonstrated capability in application migration and modernization of cloud environments,” as well as cloud security. It does not seem like applicants will have to provide data center services or IT hardware.

Applicants must submit information by July 31.

“As standard practice, DISA cannot discuss open solicitations posted on SAM.gov or other sites, as it could violate established procurement regulations and policies. Therefore, we have nothing to add at this time,” a DISA spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

In October 2024, the DoD awarded AWS a $7.2m contract for a virtual private cloud pilot, and in April of this year, the US Army expanded its use of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure with a $222.53m task order.

Most recently, Google, along with AI companies OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, were each awarded contracts valued up to $200m. Under the contract with Google Public Sector, the DoD can access Google's cloud infrastructure, including its tensor processing units (TPUs) for AI, and will have access to Google's entire Contiguous United States (CONUS) infrastructure for AI.

Meanwhile, the AI companies will help the DoD scale up the adoption of advanced AI capabilities, with the Chief Digital and Intelligence Office noting it will enable the department to develop agentic AI workloads to address critical national security challenges.