A call-off notice released by the Crown Commercial Service says that the present CloudStore, the third built since G-Cloud was launched, needs to be updated and replaced.

The move is aimed at helping the platform cope with an expected rise in traffic and data, as well as extending its remit to cover other government frameworks.

The tender said: “The CloudStore has been successful, and has to cope with a growing volume of data beyond initial predictions; it is nearing capacity and design limits.”

Increasing the number of frameworks covered would be risky to undertake with the current codebase, and may not be technically possible, it said.

The tender also said that the CloudStore will become known as the Government Digital Marketplace.

Officials are understood to believe that the CloudStore and G-Cloud names have become too easily misused, often interchangeably.

The government closed the request for proposals on December 12, and is not accepting additional tenders.

The work will use an agile delivery method, will last for four months.

The news comes two weeks after a group of public sector ICT professionals wrote to the GDS suggesting a number of reforms to the G-Cloud project.

In an article for PublicTechnology.net this week, Jacob Barreth warns that councils need to consider the potential drawbacks, in addition to the benefits, of migrating their ICT services to the Cloud.