The latest iteration of government’s flagship technology buying vehicle has been extended to include the services covered by the Cloud Compute agreement, with segments, lifespan and competition rules also rejigged
Bidding is now open for G-Cloud 15 – a revamped and expanded version of the long-standing framework that is forecast to be worth almost £17bn to the chosen suppliers.
The fifteenth iteration of the tech agreement will supersede both the incumbent G-Cloud 14 and the Cloud Compute 2 framework – the second version of a vehicle created in 2021 to support public-sector entities to buy cloud hosting principally from major hyperscale providers. A total of £3.1bn and £500m are respectively spent via the two deals being replaced by G-Cloud 15, according to a freshly published contract notice.
The latest version of G-Cloud will also discontinue the stand-alone fourth lot that features on the current iteration. This lot – which currently requires buyers to run competitive processes before awarding deals – is largely focused on cloud migration and set-up services.
In its stead will be broader single framework – offering public bodies the option of both further competition and direct awards in all of its five sections.
These segments include first lot that is sub-divided into two areas: lot 1a covers infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service offerings; while 1b addresses the same services for data and systems that need to be hosted at a security classification level above Official.
Similarly, lot 2a is focused on infrastructure software-as-a-service, while 2b addresses other forms of software as a service. The third, single-track lot, encompasses cloud support services.
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Bids for a place on one or more of these segments are open until 3pm on 30 January. The Crown Commercial Service expects to enter into contracts with the chosen provides in September 2026.
The framework is then scheduled to run for a four-year term until 2030 – a marked change in tack from the early years of G-Cloud. From 2012 to 2018, a period covering the first nine iterations of the engagement, framework terms mostly lasted a year, and CCS never went longer than 10 months without launching a new and expanded version of G-Cloud.
The current iteration came into effect in October 2024 and, has been extended for a further year beyond its initial 12-month term. It is now due to conclude a month after its replacement takes effect.
As well as these structural changes G-Cloud 15 will introduce “a range of digital enhancements to improve the buyer and supplier experience and provide better quality category information”. Other amendments will also enable public bodies to equip supplier contracts with prompt-payment rules – something which currently requires a ministerial sign-off. Providers that secure a place on the new G-Cloud will also be subject to more tailored financial security checks, instead of a current one-size-fits-all standard applied to all firms on G-Cloud 14.
“The public cloud market in the public sector is estimated to be worth £6bn in 2024 according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Government Digital Service,” the CCS notice says. “This includes services that have already migrated to cloud (under the ‘cloud first’ policy) and the potential for those services yet to move to cloud. G-Cloud 15 will introduce a number of further improvements, mainly focusing on increased playbook and policy compliance and intention to adopt a more traditional approach to evaluation, as seen on other CCS frameworks.”
