G-Cloud VI launches

Cranleigh, Surrey – 4th February 2015 - With today's launch of the G-Cloud VI framework this iteration sees another increase in the number of suppliers, up by 15%  taking the number of pre-approved suppliers to 1453 with 10,827 new services also being added - which is great news for the programme.

However, SME supplier Memset, who was one of the first SMEs approved for the G-Cloud framework, questions whether any of the approved suppliers with services listed outside of Lot 4 (Special Consultancy Services) will see an increase in revenue to match.

Memset MD, Kate Craig-Wood, said: “True cloud SME providers are struggling to secure contracts via the Digital Marketplace because a lot of the business is going through Lot 4.”

In November 2014 less than 15% of sales on G-Cloud were to true cloud services, ie. those listed in Lots 1-3 covering infrastructure, platform and software as a service. “This is a bit disappointing - as the name suggests it is G-Cloud and we should be moving away from consulting towards a pay-as-you-go, standardised pool of cloud computing resources,” says Craig-Wood.

“However it’s not all bad news if you are a newly approved SME supplier”, says Craig-Wood.  There is an appetite from incumbent suppliers to work with SMEs in line with government policy to broaden the marketplace and they need to team up SMEs to address that.  Also, working with SMEs can help drive their costs down too.

This is good news for new suppliers as the SIs already have the relationships with Government in place and it should be an easier way to secure business as the old major outsourcing contracts expire.

“I don’t think the framework is fundamentally flawed, however there is a lot of work to do in Government to encourage its use. Getting more procurement professionals to use the framework and getting local Government and the wider public sector to support it as well would really help the SME cause,” concluded Craig-Wood.