G-Cloud 6 tender proposes frequent refreshes

G-Cloud suppliers and services could be updated every three months, the government revealed yesterday in tender documents for the sixth iteration of the framework.


By Colin Marrs

07 Nov 2014

The Crown Commercial Service yesterday published details of how suppliers can apply to join G-Cloud 6, which will be hosted on the new Digital Marketplace platform.

And it said that regular updates of the supplier list and services would be a new feature on the new version of G-Cloud.

The tender said: “The G-Cloud framework catalogue, known as Digital Marketplace, will require frequent procurement refreshes to bring on new suppliers and services.

“Refreshes are being considered at a varying frequency of 3-12 months depending on demand and/or availability of new services as the IT Cloud market develops.”

Last month, Tony Singleton, director of the digital commercial programme at the Government Digital Service, trailed the change at the 2014 Socitm annual conference in Manchester.

He said that the government was examining how new amendments to EU regulations relating to dynamic purchasing could be applied to G-Cloud at the earliest opportunity.

“We are talking to Treasury solicitors about how we can move to a dynamic system as soon as the law allows it," he told delegates.

The government has just closed a consultation on transposing the new EU Public Sector Directive into UK law.

The document tackles a number of practical problems with the current dynamic purchasing rules which mean they have rarely been used.

According to the CCS, the new iteration of G-Cloud could be worth £200m.

The closing date for submissions is 17 December, with the framework expected to go live by February.

Suppliers on previous versions of G-Cloud are not being pre-loaded onto the new Digital Marketplace platform and are being encouraged to resubmit their services to benefit from a new data structure, aimed at making services easier to find.

Executive director of the Government Digital Service Mike Bracken said: “We are developing a whole new way of buying digital. Modern services need to be continually iterated and improved to meet users' needs.  And we need a platform that allows us to flexibly commission what we need to deliver those services, drive down cost and drive up value."

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