£1 billion has now been spent on the United Kingdom Government’s G-Cloud. G-Cloud, which was launched in 2012, is an initiative designed to enable government agencies and related bodies in the UK to acquire cloud-based Information Technology services. G-Cloud represents an online marketplace where public sector organisations are able to purchase cloud-based services without having to manage full tender processes. The latest iteration of the procurement framework, G-Cloud 7, went live on 23 November 2015. All vendors and providers available through G-Cloud have been vetted to ensure their services meet UK government requirements, especially in terms of data protection. Framework members include larger providers like Iomart and AWS. In addition, Microsoft offers its Azure and Office 365 solutions through the framework. However, financial results for 2016 compiled by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) suggest that 62% of the £1 billion spent on the scheme since its inception have gone to providers considered SMEs.
Central government bodies acquired services through the framework amounting to 76% this amount, with the greater public sector accounting for the remaining 24%. However, these figures go back to November 2015 and at present the G-Cloud control panel has not been updated with more recent figures.
Like G-Cloud, the Digital Services framework (DSf) is “transforming the way the public sector commissions digital and cloud services, by making it simpler, clearer and faster”. Based on figures released in January 2016, £47 million was spent through the agreement since its inception. 40% of this amount was generated by SME businesses providing services predominantly to the central government. The Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DoS) agreement, which launches in April 2016, supersedes DSf.
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