Exclusive: G-Cloud boss claims framework is being 'fundamentally revisited'

Warren Smith opens up to CRN about how GDS is addressing G-Cloud issues and improving it for the future

The head of the Digital Marketplace has told CRN that G-Cloud 9 will be built up from scratch after his team's "discovery" process goes back to basics and analyses users' core needs.

Warren Smith, the interim programme director for the Digital Marketplace - which encompasses G-Cloud and the the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) and Crown Hosting frameworks - said the team is currently taking a much closer look at the next iteration of the framework than it normally does.

G-Cloud 7 is live at the moment, while applications opened for G-Cloud 8 this week.

The Government Digital Service (GDS), in which the Digital Marketplace sits, announced earlier this year that a discovery improvement process was under way for G-Cloud 9, and Smith opened up to CRN about the process today.

When asked if the process means the team is starting afresh with G-Cloud 9 and if it will be a blank canvas, Smith said:

"Yes, I would characterise it like that. When we talk about discovery, it doesn't mean we are throwing the baby out with the bath water, but you've hit the nail on the head because the government has never really returned to the core design principles of that framework since its creation.

"Even though we iterate it every six to nine months, we've never really revisited if the user needs have changed at all. Do we truly know who the users are? Do we know what their needs are? Do we know the jobs they are trying to do? How is G-Cloud meeting those needs? And how isn't it meeting them? So, yes, it is a fundamental revisiting of what we are trying to achieve."

Earlier this week, the GDS announced changes to Lot 4 (Specialist Computer Services), removing the overlap with the recently reworked DOS framework.

Smith said that although he doesn't want to jump to conclusions, he wants to better align the Lot with its original aim - to support sales through the first three Lots: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.

"I wouldn't want to pre-empt and say Lot 4 is going," he said. "Are the four Lots still relevant? We will discover all of that as part of that process."

Spreading the joy

In February, CRN conducted analysis of the public G-Cloud sales figures and found that the majority of sales through the framework up to that point had gone through just 30 suppliers, despite there being more than 650 which have made a sale on the framework.

When asked if this issue is a significant challenge, Smith said: "There are various steps to how we transform procurement in government. The first part of that is showing that we've created a level playing field for suppliers - large or small - to give them the opportunity to do business with government. That was a fundamental principle of designing the G-Cloud framework. How can we at least open that door? Being on the framework is that first step through the door. That's where we've had some amazing success in opening up the market.

"The next stage is how do we do everything we can to support a greater number of suppliers actually winning business with government. The pieces of the puzzle are all there."

Local councils

Research carried out by CRN in May last year found that the majority of local councils which responded to our Freedom of Information requests had no plans to use the G-Cloud framework in FY 15/16. According to G-Cloud's official sales figures, spending from central government dwarfs that of local councils and the wider public sector combined.

Smith said widening the appeal of G-Cloud is important.

"We recognise, because we see through the data, that the main usage is through central government. But we're certain - and we will test this through the discovery - that there is definitely a demand and need for cloud services [in the wider public sector] that is not being met by G-Cloud as it is.

"It is a very important target market. The wider public sector - local authorities, health, schools and so on - we want to know what they need and how can we help to meet that need."