The Government Digital Service has spent the past six months developing the Digital Marketplace to replace CloudStore as the online home for purchases through the G-Cloud framework.

In August it said that it was planning to run the live platform alongside Cloudstore during September, giving customers a choice of purchasing route, before switching off the latter.

But in a blog, Mark Branigan, user researcher at GDS, said: “One of the most common questions we’re asked when we’re doing user research for the Digital Marketplace is “When is this going live?”

“This is a hard question to answer because it’s much more important to create a service that is fit for purpose than to meet a deadline.

"We have specifically made our alpha public so that everyone can get involved in its development before it goes live.”

He encouraged users to keep trying the Digital Marketplace alpha site to continue helping GDS hone it before launch.

Branigan said: “We have spoken to just over fifty users now, and many of these have been suppliers - both ones who are already selling services through G-Cloud, and those who are interested in joining the framework.”