The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded Amazon Web Services (AWS) a $2.6 billion cloud contract.
As reported by Orange Slices and revealed in documents published on June 12, the contract will run for five years and makes AWS the first vendor to secure a deal under the Cumulus project.
Cumulus is the DHS's department-wide initiative that aims to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the department's cloud service provider procurement strategy, but also to increase "oversight and understanding of CSP solutions being procured across the Department and how they may be collaboratively leveraged from both a mission delivery and spend perspective," as per documents published in January 2026.
According to those documents, the DHS anticipated spending more than $100 million - the ceiling for the Acquisition Planning Forecast System platform.
The contract with AWS will include commercially available "Anything as a Service (XaaS) covering Infrastructure as a Service (laaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), professional services, marketplace solutions, and training services."
AWS is merely the first provider to be announced, with a justification document noting that multiple single-award indefinite quantity vehicles will be established with "brand name cloud service providers," specifically Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
"The rolling award schedule shall allow adequate time for effective negotiations resulting in significant discounts being provided to the DHS off of CSP published commercial pricing."
AWS was scheduled for Q2 FY2026, while contracts with Oracle, Google, and Microsoft are set to be made in Q3. Q4, meanwhile, will include "multiple awardees."
Total spend expectations have been redacted, but DHS expects to save $142m in the first year of Cumulus' execution.
Hyperscalers have long awarded discounts to government departments for large procurement deals.
Last year, AWS provided the GSA with up to $1bn in savings for cloud adoption, modernization, and training across US federal agencies through to the end of 2028. Microsoft established a "Government-wide Microsoft Acquisition Strategy" in January of this year, while both Oracle and Google have committed to offering government agencies significant discounts on their services.