Local government warming to G-Cloud - GDS

Government claims hundreds of new government buyers, mainly from local councils, have signed up for accounts

The government has insisted it is making progress on getting more local councils interested in G-Cloud, claiming hundreds of local bodies have signed up for government buyer accounts since March.

CRN research in May found that the vast majority (73 per cent) of local councils had no plans to use the framework in this financial year. Some councils had never even heard of it.

In a blog post, G-Cloud boss Tony Singleton said since March – when the Government Digital Service (GDS) laid out its strategy – councils have become more interested in the framework.

The March strategy document said the GDS aimed to "work with our communities of buyers and suppliers to increase uptake of the Digital Marketplace across the different government sectors."

Since then, Singleton claims the government has continued to engage with government and wider public sector buyers on a regional basis, with events in Liverpool, Glasgow and Bristol.

"We covered how to choose the right technology [at the events]," Singleton said. "This includes understanding needs, defining requirements, unbundling service components, building internal capabilities and outcome-based commissioning using agile methodologies to manage third-party suppliers for successful service design and delivery."

The events helped capture the imagination of local IT heads, he added, claiming 650 new government buyers have created accounts in the Digital Services Store since March. Three quarters of those bodies are local authorities and 180 of them are using DSS for the first time. The 650 buyers represent more than 240 departments from across local and central government and wider public bodies.

Speaking up

Raising awareness of the Digital Marketplace was another key priority listed in the March mission statement. Singleton said since then, progress has been made – partly through the regional events – but also on a wider basis.

"We have begun sourcing written and video case studies from local and central government buyers," Singleton said. "We aim to publish these regularly."