Unlocking AWS WofGA 3.0 discounts through Salsa

From 1 May 2025, a new Whole-of-Government Agreement between AWS and the DTA unlocks significant cloud discounts for eligible public sector agencies. Salsa can help you access these benefits for your digital projects—this article explains how.

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Date:
26 May 2025

Unlocking AWS WofGA 3.0 discounts through Salsa Digital: what public sector agencies need to know

The AWS / DTA Whole-of-Government Agreement (WofGA) 3.0 represents a major shift in how public sector agencies in Australia can procure and manage cloud infrastructure.

Signed in December 2024 and effective from May 2025, WofGA 3.0 is a three-year enterprise agreement negotiated between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA). It allows eligible agencies—including federal, state, and local governments, higher education institutions, and government-owned corporations—to access significantly improved commercial terms and enterprise-grade services.

What’s in the WofGA 3.0 deal?

Under this agreement, AWS treats the public sector as a single customer group, unlocking benefits typically reserved for large-scale enterprise clients. These include:

  • (Significant double digit) discounted pricing: Tiered cross-services discounts (CSDs) across almost all AWS services. These discounts even apply on savings plans and reserved instances!
  • Storage savings: Discounted S3 storage pricing.
  • Investment credits: Estimated workload spend returned as credits for new projects (minimums apply).
  • Support: Access to AWS Enterprise On-Ramp (Australian staffed) support.
  • Improved terms: Better liability, security and policy alignment for public sector procurement.

Accessing the discount via Salsa: the indirect PPA model

Salsa Digital is an AWS partner that can offer WofGA 3.0 pricing via the indirect private pricing attachment (PPA) path. This means eligible customers can contract with Salsa—rather than AWS directly—and still receive the full commercial benefits of the WofGA 3.0 framework.

Through our established relationship with AWS and distribution partner NextGen, we can streamline your onboarding and deliver ongoing billing, support, and technical management.

Here’s how it works:

  • New AWS account structure required: A fresh AWS account structure, including:

    • A billing-only "payer" account, controlled by NextGen (AWS's authorised distributor) with access granted to Salsa. This may be a new AWS billing account or an existing account that is reconfigured to comply with the WofGA requirements.

    • One or more "service" sub/linked accounts used to host infrastructure, with ownership credentials tied to the end customer (as required by WofGA for eligibility). These can be new AWS accounts or, for already established infrastructure, existing accounts can be reconfigured. Most importantly, service operations are not disrupted or impacted by these changes.

  • Transparent billing: Salsa receives a discounted invoice from NextGen and passes on the discount savings to the customer.

  • Support mandate: All customers must subscribe to AWS Enterprise On-Ramp (Australianm staffed) support.

Combine with other AWS savings

These discounts are applied on top of other AWS mechanisms like reserved instances or savings plans—meaning substantial savings for agencies.

Eligibility and commitment

To qualify:

  • You must be a government entity or publicly owned institution as defined by the Commonwealth.
  • The agreement term is fixed at three years.
  • A minimum spend commitment applies (based on trailing 12-month spend or a threshold of USD $25k).

Invoices are issued in USD and converted to AUD at the exchange rate on the day of billing. Investment credits and other benefits are subject to eligibility and minimum thresholds.

Why work with Salsa?

Salsa has deep experience delivering secure, high-performance cloud services for the Australian public sector. By working with us under WofGA 3.0, you gain:

  • Immediate access to AWS’s most favourable government pricing
  • Simplified procurement and setup
  • A tailored and fully transparent monthly billing in AUD for better budgeting and monitoring
  • Technical leadership and operational support from a trusted local delivery team

If you’re planning new workloads or looking to reduce cloud costs on existing infrastructure, Salsa can help you take full advantage of the WofGA 3.0 opportunity.

Contact us today to explore eligibility, pricing, and onboarding options.