The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is restructuring its planned Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) follow-on effort, known as JWCC Next, into a broader cloud acquisition framework called the JWCC Unified Cloud Marketplace (UCM), a senior DISA official said this week.
“JWCC Next is morphing, it is updating, it is changing,” Jeff Marshall, director of DISA J-9 Hosting and Compute, told MeriTalk following his keynote session Tuesday at AFCEA’s TechNet Cyber in Baltimore.
The move, he explained, is designed to simplify cloud acquisition across the Defense Department (DOD) – rebranded as the War Department by President Donald Trump – while expanding access to commercial cloud capabilities beyond traditional hyperscale providers.
According to recently released documents, the revised structure will be organized into three tiers:
- Tier 1 will focus on hyperscale cloud service providers delivering core infrastructure and platform services
- Tier 2 will encompass everything-as-a-service offerings, including software as a service, platform as a service, and non-hyperscale infrastructure as a service capabilities
- Tier 3 will provide access to innovative cloud technologies from commercial innovators and small businesses that meet DOD security requirements
The framework also emphasizes operations in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited-bandwidth (DDIL) environments, along with edge computing capabilities such as man-portable and vehicle-mounted systems and modular deployable data centers that can operate across varying levels of connectivity.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another key focus. Draft solicitation documents call for AI and machine learning capabilities across all classification and impact levels, including DDIL environments, along with advanced analytics tools for data labeling, model training, and operational deployment.
The current presolicitation represents the first phase of the broader acquisition strategy and focuses solely on the Tier 1 hyperscale cloud contract. DISA said additional details on Tier 2 and Tier 3 procurements will be released later.
Marshall also said DISA is developing a second component of the framework called JWCC Core, which he described as “the hypervisor piece” of the marketplace. This will be released soon, he said.
“The intent is to get both [solicitations] to go out around the same time, so that they’re both awarded around the same time, so that we can provide that holistic UCM capability,” Marshall said.
JWCC Next had previously been expected to succeed the department’s existing JWCC vehicle, with a planned launch in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.
The DOD awarded positions on the original 10-year, $9 billion JWCC contract vehicle in 2022 to Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle. The contract allows those companies to compete for task orders providing cloud computing, storage, and related services across the department. The vehicle has generated more than $3.9 billion in task orders.