DOD Issues Solicitations for New Enterprise Multi-Cloud Contract

The Department of Defense has formally issued requests for proposals to the companies vying for spots on a new enterprise multi-cloud effort.

Hyperscale cloud companies Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Oracle received invitations to bid on the DOD’s indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract, FedScoop reported.

JWCC is the replacement to the potential 10-year, $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract, which the DOD scrapped following several legal battles among its bidders.

“Our commitment to supporting our nation’s military and ensuring that our warfighters and defense partners have access to the best technology for the best value is stronger than ever,” said an AWS spokesperson. “We look forward to continuing to support the DoD’s modernization efforts and building solutions that help accomplish their critical missions.”

JEDI also no longer meets the military’s technical needs as it was developed at a time when commercial cloud technology was less mature, the DOD said in a July release.

Companies that secure spots on the new contract would be allowed to compete for individual task orders.

A DOD spokesperson said that the four companies were selected based on an analysis of the commercial cloud market and an assessment of the bidders’ capability statements, FedScoop reported.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian only recently announced that the company would bid on JWCC if an invitation were sent out.

Kurian made the announcement amid speculation that Google Cloud plans to re-establish its relationship with the military. In 2018, the company backed out of a contract to support the U.S. Air Force’s Project Maven.

DOD officials previously said that JWCC will not be exclusive to hyperscale cloud providers. Danielle Metz, DOD’s deputy chief information officer for the information enterprise, said the contract will eventually be opened to any company capable of meeting the department’s common and unique mission sets.