GDS Outlines Digital Commercial Programme Strategy

A new post on the Digital Marketplace blog reveals that the main focuses of the Digital Commercial Programme Strategy are user needs and service design and delivery that meet these.

The Digital Commercial Programme is the Cabinet Office’s umbrella term for its attempt to reform technology procurement within government – it houses frameworks such as G-Cloud, the Digital Services Store and the new Digital Marketplace.

According to the post, the vision is to “bring about lasting change in the way that government and the wider public sector thinks about, and buys, digital and technology.”

Warren Smith, author of the post and head of strategy for the Digital Commercial Programme, claims that the Digital Marketplace just one among other fundamentally important things for realising his organisation’s vision.

The post claims that although G-Cloud and the Digital Services framework are key routes to market, new commissioning frameworks are being designed.

“Each part is dependent on one another; if just one part fails to meet our users’ needs, then the whole user experience is potentially affected,” claims Smith.

“The programme needs to be designed and delivered as a service,” he adds.

To do this, Smith says, the Government Digital Service (GDS) is speaking with the buying and public sector organisations it wants to attract in order to discover their needs, but also educate them of the principles underpinning the lasting change it wants to achieve.

“In doing so we will equip them with the right mindsets, behaviours, tools and a set of principles, guidance, practical methods and templates supported by real illustrative examples, in readiness for buying and selling,” he claims.

Listen To Users, Explain The End Goal

It is explained in the blog post that by understanding user needs and educating them on the end goal, it becomes possible to design a service that both meets user needs and supports the transformation GDS aims for.

 “All must enable buyers to contract with the right suppliers, to give them the things they need to do the things they need to do,” says Smith.

The blog post concludes by claiming that the full Digital Commercial Programme Strategy – the first draft alpha stage - will be published by the end of June.

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