The government has announced a series of measures to increase awareness of services and products available through its G-Cloud framework in response to surveys showing low awareness of the platform.
In a blog post published yesterday, Tony Singleton, director of digital commercial programme at the Government Digital Service said that his team would harness the goodwill of early adopters to build a network of supplier and buyer “champions”.
Singleton said that the aim was to involve more leaders involved in ICT procurement across the public sector so that G-Cloud becomes their default option.
He said: “It is essential that we get the message across to service owners and those developing policy, senior civil servants and the equivalent in the wider public sector.”
In addition, the GDS is developing an online resource including case studies, myth-busting articles and video content.
Singleton also said he would post a monthly blog to communicate the progress that was being made to increase adoption of the G-Cloud framework.
A poll released last month revealed that almost half of local public sector bodies have no plans to procure services from the government’s G-Cloud marketplace.
In his blog, Singleton said that the DGS has identified savings of 50% on purchases made through G-Cloud, and said full details would be published shortly.
He added: “Other benefits buyers have spoken about include greater transparency, flexibility, a simpler, clearer, faster way to buy and ultimately better value for the taxpayer – once the requirement has been defined, we have put a contract in place in three minutes!”
In February, the government announced that it would work towards integrating the G-Cloud online marketplace Cloudstore with other government digital frameworks under the new name the Government Digital Marketplace.
Last week, the GDS said that it is already testing a prototype of the new platform with buyers.
In a blog posting, user researcher Katie Taylor said there was still some confusion over category names, and that published prices were often misleading.
