GDS spreads the word on the Digital Marketplace

Government hails success of regional events to boost supplier interest in its IT frameworks

The government has said a recent initiative to get more government suppliers and buyers interested in G-Cloud is paying off.

In August and September, the Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Crown Commercial Service teamed up to hold 14 events across the country in a bid to boost interest in government frameworks.

Two events were held in seven cities - London, Cambridge, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester - over the last few weeks.

Suppliers and buyers were invited to the gatherings and received information on the Digital Marketplace, delivering agile services, advice on how to buy and sell through frameworks and the chance to ask any questions they had.

Getting the Digital Marketplace message out to local buyers has become a key initiative for the government in recent months. The vast majority of sales through G-Cloud - which comes under the Digital Marketplace umbrella - are with central government bodies. CRN research found that most local councils have no plans to procure from the framework in the coming year.

But the government said its latest campaign to raise awareness of the framework - and others - has gone down well.

Of the suppliers which attended the event, 84 per cent said they would likely apply for future framework iterations. Some 88 per cent of buyers said the events encouraged them to buy via the Digital Marketplace in the future.

The GDS said: "The Digital Marketplace makes it simpler, clearer and faster for the public sector to buy what they need to build world-class services. To do this well, it's really important for us to engage with, and gather feedback from, our users regularly."