Government fixes dodgy G-Cloud data

New, accurate figures show sales through the framework rose in October, whereas previous erroneous figures suggested a sharp decline

The government has fixed errors in its G-Cloud data, so it now shows that sales through the framework in October rose by more than half annually, rather than falling by almost a quarter.

G-Cloud watchers were somewhat panicked last week by the latest data, which is published publicly and showed a sharp decline in sales in October. The numbers said sales in the month reached only £38m, representing a 22 per cent slump annually and a 45 per cent monthly. Some suppliers had worried the data meant Brexit was causing headaches in government IT supply.

But when asked by CRN for comment on the official figures, which were published online, the government said that the data for October was incomplete due to an admin error. The government updated the figures last night, including new data for November, and deleted the incorrect spreadsheet.

The updated numbers show that October sales hit £76.2m, up 57 per cent annually, and up six per cent monthly. In November, sales grew two per cent monthly to £78.1m, representing a 41 per cent jump on the year before.

The figures paint a far more positive picture than the initial, erroneous data did.

Lindsay Smith, principal of G-Cloud Sales UK, told CRN that some of the numbers within the headline figures are still far from glowing.

"The picture is interesting and if you look, the sales went up overall in the November month. Where is this all coming from?" he said. "It's from Lot 4, which is for consulting. Some of the big companies, I don't think they're much to do with cloud. The underlying three Lots - things we know are cloud, software and infrastructure - they have taken a dip in November. They're holding their own, and it's not as bad as the previous erroneous figures, but they almost touched last year's figures, when you'd hope it would be 30 per cent higher."

Last week,