Pentagon Expands JWCC Next to Include Nontraditional Cloud and AI Vendors
Defense Department CIO Katie Arrington said on July 24 that the follow-on to the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability – JWCC Next – will bring in smaller cloud providers offering AI tools, satellite relays, and rugged edge services not typically available from major vendors.
Roughly $1.7 billion in task orders have already been awarded under the original $9 billion ceiling, all handled by four major companies. But program managers see the risk in relying too heavily on a small set of tools. The new contract will divide awards: large providers will hold the main cloud regions, while smaller firms can compete for mission-specific tasks like maritime sensor data or airborne fusion. The overall ceiling will exceed the current $9 billion, but the final number hasn’t been released.
Unlike a recompete, JWCC Next will run as a separate, indefinite-delivery vehicle. That setup keeps existing work stable while new options are added. Vendors will be able to join each year if they meet performance benchmarks.
Zero Trust, API Compliance, and Secret Cloud Expansion
A key policy shift now requires all providers to expose their zero-trust controls through published APIs. The old waiver process for external data sharing has been dropped entirely. This change followed an April breach at a training base, traced to an unsecured storage bucket and lack of visibility across vendors.
Secret-level cloud zones are also in short supply. Units in Europe are queued behind Pacific forces. The new contract will add at least four more secret-region pairs, including one tied to Italy’s newly announced sensor test range.
Smaller firms are already preparing proposals. At least eight integrators with under $1 billion in annual revenue are pitching solutions like FPGA cryptography, elastic satellite links, and ultra-light container runtimes for field radios. Analysts expect double-digit growth in cloud defense spending through 2027 if the rollout stays on track.
Cloud Infrastructure Requirements for Military Operations
Vendors will need to meet round-trip latency targets of 45 milliseconds or less between any CONUS site and a DoD instance in Europe or the Pacific-fast enough to support live command-and-control traffic without special circuits.
All sensitive data must be tagged at creation, logged in an immutable ledger, and tracked through a full audit trail. It comes after joint exercises exposed breakdowns in chain-of-custody across cloud providers.
Compliance is being automated. Each workload must carry machine-readable policies and score itself every hour. If it fails, it must isolate within four minutes and restore in thirty.
Edge environments are a must-have. Teams working in remote or contested areas need local processing when connectivity drops. Providers must support container clusters that run on low power, self-mesh, and sync once back online.
Proposals must also show real-world security results. Vendors are expected to present evidence of past vulnerability fixes or bug-bounty payouts, along with how those findings led to architectural changes.
The plan includes GPU and FPGA support for both AI training and inference, elastic scheduling for satellite ground stations, and hardened edge hardware that can operate under jamming. Other focus areas are data services for logistics, healthcare, and predictive maintenance.
A draft RFP will open for public comment in September. The full solicitation is scheduled for December and will remain open for 90 days. Awards are expected by the end of Q3 FY 2026, giving ordering offices six months to transition before the original vehicle hits its midpoint.
While big vendors are likely to hold core regions, many see room in the more specialized lanes. Some are teaming up with startups working on RF analytics or rugged gear. One provider already offers a satellite-ground edge system that could become eligible for operational funding under JWCC Next.
The Army wants to run its Combined Arms C2 on deployable clusters. The Air Force logistics team needs a unified data lake to track parts from shelf to aircraft. Space Command is monitoring orbital cloud zones that shrink sensor-to-analysis time from minutes to seconds.
Cloud still makes up just 5% of the Pentagon’s IT budget. Analysts believe that could climb to 7% as analytic and collaboration tools move to managed platforms. But cost studies also show savings: for every dollar spent on fully utilized cloud, $1.40 is saved on hardware and software support. The CFO’s office will track JWCC Next spending under a new sub-category that ties funding directly to mission outcomes.
REFERENCE SOURCES
- https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2025/07/pentagon-not-impacted-microsoft-sharepoint-hack-tech-chief-says/406995/
- https://executivegov.com/articles/dod-katie-arrington-jwcc-next-cloud-service-providers-competition
- https://www.nextgov.com/defense/2025/07/pentagon-will-open-door-more-companies-next-major-cloud-contract/406988/
- https://govtribe.com/topic-insights/defense-department-cloud-contracts
- https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2025/07/pentagon-will-open-door-more-companies-next-major-cloud-contract/406994/
- https://meritalk.com/articles/arrington-jwcc-next-is-targeting-non-traditional-companies/
- https://defensescoop.com/2025/07/17/disa-pursues-new-engineering-and-it-partners-to-enable-the-joint-warfighting-cloud-capability/
