G-Cloud 7 Submissions Open End Of Month

Aug 17, 2015

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has revealed that submissions for the seventh iteration of the G-Cloud procurement framework are set to open at the end of August.

According to GDS, it has taken user feedback from G-Cloud 6 on-board in order to make the G-Cloud 7 application process much simpler.

One of the actions the organisation claims to have taken is to have developed a single application system - for the sixth iteration, suppliers wishing to sell their services on the framework were required apply and submit their services via two systems - now everything will go through a single system on the Digital Marketplace.

Another complaint that GDS says it is handling is the complicated language that has appeared on previous versions of G-Cloud.

"We're currently reviewing the language we use to see if we can simplify it. For G7 we'll use plain English in the security assurance questions as well as in our guidance around having a compliant submission," a Digital Marketplace blog post claims.

"We'll provide explanatory notes to guide suppliers through these sections and ensure we accurately represent procurement regulations," it adds.

Those wishing to apply for a place on G-Cloud 7 will also be able to benefit from submitting the same information they did for G6 and clarification questions will continue to be updated.

Digital Services 2 Is Now Live

The G-Cloud 7 update comes just over a week after the second Digital Services framework went live as DS1 expired on 8th August.

The second iteration has 169 suppliers, of which 77% are SMEs and these are now appearing on the Digital Marketplace, which is home to both DS and G-Cloud.

There are some small changes to the second version of Digital Services, such as keyword lookup across digital technologies, roles and capabilities, additional roles and consolidated capabilities, new types of roles, the option to select a remote developer and an improved layout and design.