Nooks Awarded Defense Innovation Unit Contract to Expand Classified Infrastructure-as-a-Service Nationwide

Four-year contract under DIU's Bridge Program provides a $146.8 million ceiling to accelerate classified access, clearances and secure collaboration for commercial technology companies

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nooks, the company that pioneered Classified Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS), today announced it has been awarded a four-year contract supporting the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU's) Bridge Program. The award addresses one of the defense innovation ecosystem's most persistent barriers: commercial companies still lack timely access to the classified spaces, clearances, security expertise and secure networks required to perform. 

Through DIU's Bridge Program, Nooks will provide shared classified infrastructure and managed security services designed to move selected DIU portfolio companies from contract award to classified execution faster.

The award funds the activation of new Nooks sites in six major innovation markets: Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco Bay Area, and Honolulu, connecting companies to flexible, accredited environments near the talent and capital building the next generation of national security technology. These six new sites add to Nooks' growing portfolio of classified workspaces, which includes sites in Arlington, Colorado Springs, El Segundo, and Huntsville, expanding the network to ten markets. Nooks plans to announce additional locations in 2027.

"When successful, DIU will have demonstrated a new model, a model where classified infrastructure is resourced based upon usage and becomes operational within months, not years, of the need arising," said Sarah Pearson, Head of Strategic Initiatives at DIU.

"The government has focused the past 10 years on bringing commercial capabilities into the national security mission, but too many companies still hit a wall when the work becomes classified," said David "Mudd" Willard, cofounder and CEO of Nooks. "This award recognizes that classified infrastructure should be available as a service, not rebuilt company by company. Working with DIU, we can give innovators the secure foundation they need to move from promising technology to mission impact."

Nooks' CIaaS model replaces long construction timelines and significant upfront capital expenditures with subscription-based access to accredited private suites, flexible workstations, secure video conferencing and data-center capabilities. The model allows companies to use the capacity they need, where they need it, while Nooks manages the underlying physical and digital infrastructure.

The space, networks and security services funded under this award are the entry point to a broader Nooks platform designed to cover the full lifecycle of classified work: sponsoring and holding facility and personnel clearances, accredited workspace and secure networks, mobile SCIF pods for work outside fixed facilities and, over time, classified lab and manufacturing space.

The contract also funds FSO-as-a-Service for up to 100 selected DIU portfolio companies. Through its Managed Security Services offering, Nooks will provide fractional Facility Security Officer (FSO) expertise to support Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) compliance, Facility Clearance and Personnel Clearance processes, insider-threat programs and DD Form 254 administration. For many of these companies, FSO-as-a-Service will be their first step into classified work, giving them a single point of entry to clearances, space and networks as their requirements grow.

Together, the physical network and managed services create an integrated path through the barriers that often slow companies after an initial defense award. Nooks will also advance technology prototypes that streamline SCIF accreditation workflows and enable secure, cross-ecosystem collaboration across Nooks' Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information network.

"DIU's Bridge Program is focused on the transition gap, the operational barriers that emerge after a commercial company is selected," continued Willard. "Whether a company needs a cleared workstation, a network, a lab or an FSO to get its people cleared, our goal is that Nooks is the answer, and that the answer arrives in months, not years."

The Bridge Program operates within DIU's Strategic Initiatives Group and will use DIU portfolio companies as a test bed for technology-enabled solutions to post-award barriers, including security clearances, classified-space access, technology accreditation, and testing and evaluation. Classified Infrastructure as a service, the capability Nooks is delivering under this award, is the Bridge Program's first line of effort.

Plans to scale Bridge efforts across the Department are in development to enable additional companies access in the future.

About Nooks

Founded in 2021, Nooks pioneered Classified Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS), and operates a national network of accredited classified workspaces, managed industrial security services and secure networks for the defense industrial base. With customers spanning venture-backed startups, defense primes and U.S. government agencies, Nooks is expanding to ten sites by the end of 2028 and scaling its fleet of mobile SCIF pods to more than 70 locations. By replacing bespoke facilities and fragmented compliance processes with a scalable platform, Nooks helps companies begin classified work faster, expand into new markets and focus resources on delivering technology for the mission. Learn more at nooks.works.

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