Les Benito, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Hosting and Compute Center’s chief of product development and management, told reporters this week that the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract is rapidly gaining momentum, with anticipation of additional task orders in the pipeline.
To date, the Pentagon has doled out 63 task orders to date “with a lifetime value of almost $800 million,” Benito said at AFCEA International’s TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore.
According to Benito, the task orders vary in classification, capability, and vendor selection. Some of the task orders are associated with the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort – a rebranded version of the DoD’s Joint All Domain Command and Control effort.
“[The agency] comes to us and says we need a task order for these services with this vendor, or with multiple vendors, or it’s going to be a competition. But those applications and mission sets are up to the individual customers,” Benito said.
The average lead time for a task order is 25 days, though it may vary based on the size and competitiveness of the award, potentially extending beyond that timeframe.
“Ultimately, JWCC is the sole contracting vehicle directly working with the [cloud service providers], establishing a new relationship that enables us to collaborate closely with them to enhance our capabilities,” Benito said. “This isn’t just about securing competitive pricing; it’s about delivering improved services.”
Nearly two years ago the Pentagon selected Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle for its JWCC contract, a follow-up to the Pentagon’s failed $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure arrangement.
“We’ve made several modifications to the contract already, continually refining it to better serve our customers,” Benito said, adding that his team has incorporated new capabilities to adapt to evolving cloud usage trends.
“[JWCC] is picking up steam as we expected … as we’ve gone through it, and there’s more in the pipeline,” Benito said.
