Small cloud tech businesses in line for funding boost
Small businesses in the Technology sector will shortly be able to bid to win millions of pounds of business through a major government procurement framework.
The Minister for Implementation, Oliver Dowden MP, has today (Tuesday 6th March 2018) announced that a new version of the G-Cloud procurement framework will open for bids in April, allowing new companies to join the framework - after delivering £1.4bn of spend to small businesses since its inception.
The decision to release a new version of the framework will support new companies, including small businesses, to supply to government, while also giving current suppliers the opportunity to update their service offer and pricing.
Companies will be able to bid to join the framework from April. G-Cloud 10 could eventually be worth £600 million.
G-Cloud gives central government, local councils, NHS Trusts and other public sector bodies a way to purchase cloud-based services such as web hosting from a single, central website.
Oliver Dowden, Minister for Implementation, said:
I’m pleased to confirm that we will re-let the G-Cloud framework, which provides opportunities to many small businesses in the digital sector. This will provide innovative online solutions to government, supporting the delivery of efficient, effective public services. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, so it’s crucial that we listen to them when shaping policy, as we have done today.
Rob Driver, Head of Public Sector at Tech UK, the industry trade body for technology companies across the UK, said:
For the UK Government to deliver its ambitious vision of being world-leading in the next wave of digital government transformation it must embrace the full diversity and strengths of UK tech suppliers, and innovative procurement vehicles such as G-cloud will be fundamental to achieving this vision. The announcement of the G-Cloud 10 Framework should be welcomed as it allows new innovative providers to work with government, enables new services to be provided and is an opportunity to engage with the wider public sector to make use of the framework.
The current version of the framework has 2,856 suppliers, over 90% of which are SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). The framework is expected to go live in June.
To find out more about G-Cloud, visit the Digital Marketplace.