Crown Commercial Service has published procurement opportunities for a new framework agreement around the latest iteration of G-Cloud, a UK government initiative aiming to ease procurement of cloud-based computing services including hosting, software and support.
G-Cloud is designed to help public sector organisations in finding affiliated technology suppliers and purchase services, with the initiative establishing framework agreements with service providers and listing them on the digital marketplace, a publicly accessible portal. Public sector organisations are then able to call off the services listed on the digital marketplace without the requirement to undertake the full tender process.
This iteration, G-Cloud 14, is intended to “build upon the benefits” of the previous, with access to multiple suppliers and cloud services; a “quick and easy route to market”; and access to “the latest cloud technology and innovation”.
With regards to the new framework opportunity, the contract is divided into three lots. The first of these covers cloud hosting services that can help buyers to deploy, manage and run software; support with provision and use processing; or support storage or networking resources.
For the second lot, cloud software, suppliers should able to provide cloud software services in at least one of a number of categories, including accounting and finance, analytics and business intelligence, collaborative working.
The final lot, cloud support, is for suppliers who can assist with planning services to enable customers to move to cloud software and/or hosting services, including set-up and migration, security services, quality assurance and performance testing, training, and ongoing support.
Crown Commercial Service notes that all compliant applicants will be awarded a place on the relevant lot.
For suppliers interested in submitting a tender, the closing date is 7 May at 3pm, with the contract due to start on 29 October and run until 28 April 2026.
The full details of the opportunity can be found here, and further information on G-Cloud 14 can be found here.
In September, HTN covered the news that Crown Commercial Service awarded a contract worth an estimated £2,400 million for digital and legacy application services to 23 suppliers.
We also reported on a prior information notice for a tender worth an estimated £12 billion for the future provision of technology services for use by the central government and UK public sector bodies.
