Government back-tracks on G-Cloud delay

G-Cloud 10 to launch this year following pressure from suppliers

G-Cloud 10 will launch later this year after the government back-tracked on its decision to push back the framework until 2019.

Suppliers were left angry when Crown Commercial Service (CCS) extended G-Cloud 9 by up to a year in November, meaning the framework could have run for an unprecedented two-year period. During this time suppliers would not have been able to add new services to their offering, or update pricing.

CCS has however today announced a U-turn, with G-Cloud 10 opening for bidding in April and potentially worth £600m.

Oliver Dowden, minister for implementation, said: "I'm pleased to confirm that we will re-let the G-Cloud framework, which provides opportunities to many small businesses in the digital sector.

"This will provide innovative online solutions to government, supporting the delivery of efficient, effective public services. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, so it's crucial that we listen to them when shaping policy, as we have done today."

Chris Farthing, managing director at G-Cloud consultancy Advice Cloud, said the government has responded positively to pressure from suppliers that were unhappy at the prospect of being unable to add new services or update pricing.

"Two years is a long time between iterations of G-Cloud," he said.

"Some pressure has been put on CCS and the supplier community was not happy about the inability to bring new products and services to the market.

"One of the things about cloud is you're constantly bringing in new features and services, and some of those come at a cost. If you've spent a lot of time developing and understanding what your customers want, you're going to need to make changes."

Farthing says that as he understands it, there will be no major changes to G-Cloud for the tenth iteration, except for the possibility that the Cyber Security Services framework may be brought back into the G-Cloud.

He added that the governing body had planned to make sweeping changes after feedback from customers.

"There has been a lot of customer feedback and they wanted to make broad changes, but ultimately we need a vibrant, new supply chain that is continually refreshing," he said.

"It can't be static and stagnant and for the government to admit they've got it wrong is great news for everyone."