Thousands of small businesses have won the chance to bid to supply cloud computing services to government bodies through a major government procurement framework.
G-Cloud 10, which could eventually be worth £600 million, is now open for business.
3,505 suppliers – with more than 90 per cent of them SMEs – have been awarded places on the new Crown Commercial Service framework. G-Cloud 10 has 3,505 suppliers – 649 more than G-Cloud 9.
Since 2012, more than £3 billion of cloud and digital services have been procured by public bodies through G-Cloud, with 48 per cent of that spend going directly to SMEs.
G-Cloud gives central government, local councils, NHS Trusts and other public sector bodies a way to purchase cloud-based services such as web hosting from a single, central website.
Oliver Dowden, Minister for Implementation says:
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, delivering innovative solutions in partnership with the public sector, fuelling economic growth and supporting the delivery of efficient, effective public services that meet the needs of citizens.
The success of G-Cloud demonstrates how we are breaking down the barriers for SMEs who want to supply to government.
UKCloud, an SME based in Farnborough, has been a G-Cloud supplier since the agreement began in 2012. Since then it has grown from a start-up employing 6 to now employing 200 – with well-established undergraduate and apprenticeship programmes.
Simon Hansford, CEO of UKCloud said:
The UK government’s initial introduction of the G-Cloud framework was ground-breaking and provided a level playing field for government technology suppliers that has been copied across the world. With each iteration the framework has seen enhanced functionality and an increased volume of transactions as it has supported a thriving ecosystem of UK tech SMEs that have succeeded in winning business through it.’
G-Cloud is accessed through the Digital Marketplace – created in 2014 by Crown Commercial Service and Government Digital Service to make government procurement easier and more transparent.
To find out more about G-Cloud, visit the Digital Marketplace.
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