(US and Canada) The Pentagon has awarded a $9 billion cloud contract to Google Support Services, Oracle America, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Corp. The Cloud Service Providers will share the contract to build the U.S. Department of Defense’s cloud computing network.

According to the Defense Department, the purpose of the new Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract is to provide the department with enterprise-wide, globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels — from the strategic level to the tactical edge.

The Pentagon’s official statement says, “The JWCC will allow mission owners to acquire authorized commercial cloud offerings directly from the Cloud Service Providers. The work will be performed in Reston, Virginia. The estimated completion date is June 8, 2028.”

The Pentagon canceled its last cloud contract JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) in July last year. The department mentioned “evolving requirements, increased cloud conversancy, and industry advances” as the key reasons behind scrapping JEDI and introducing the JWCC.

It also highlighted that cloud capability gaps had widened in recent years with efforts like Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Acceleration (ADA) initiative.

The multi-vendor approach for JWCC is significantly different from JEDI, where the contract was to be awarded to a single vendor. The Defense Department indicates that a multi-cloud effort will provide enterprise cloud capabilities at all three security classifications: unclassified, secret, and top secret — from the continental United States to the tactical edge.