Global players dominate the market. Will public sector buyers give local suppliers a look-in?
The British government has awarded places on its latest G-Cloud procurement framework, through which the public sector could spend an estimated £14 billion ($18.9 billion) over four years. Whitehall hopes smaller UK suppliers will capture more of that business than they have in the past.G-Cloud 15 is billed as the most significant upgrade to the UK's public sector cloud procurement framework since its inception over a decade ago.It was signposted by the Crown Commercial Service last year, when it opened up a tender for providers to take part, as reported by The Register at the time.
Approximately 90 percent of the suppliers awarded places are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), although a place on the framework does not guarantee any business.
G-Cloud 15 is overseen by the Government Commercial Agency (GCA), formed in April by combining Crown Commercial Service with commercial teams from the Cabinet Office. It folds three separate frameworks (Cloud Compute 2 and Lots 1-3 and 4 of G-Cloud 14) into a single commercial agreement.The aim is to give public sector buyers a simpler route to cloud hosting, software, and support through one marketplace.According to the GCA, £14 billion is the framework's estimated value over four years rather than committed expenditure. Approximately £3 billion ($4 billion) in public sector cloud spending is expected to pass through it annually. Call-off contracts can run up to a maximum of 60 months, giving suppliers greater commercial certainty and buyers longer-term partnerships, it claims.The government also wants smaller, local players to win more work. Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure currently account for roughly 80 percent of the UK's cloud infrastructure services market, according to some estimates.The new framework introduces measures designed to lower barriers and expand opportunity for smaller suppliers. The GCA claims its modernized classification system will help suppliers, particularly smaller firms without dedicated bid teams, describe their services accurately and appear in relevant searches.
