Policy paper

Action 10: Cabinet Office will offer leaner and more lightweight tendering processes, as close to the best practice in industry as our regulatory requirements allow

Updated 16 January 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This action forms part of the Government Digital Strategy.

Here’s how departments are responding to this action.

The Attorney General’s Office

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

The Law Officers’ departments support leaner and more lightweight tendering processes and are keen to make use of processes that Cabinet Office make available.

Progress during 2013

Law Officers’ departments have a number of ongoing projects they will look to procure through leaner and more lightweight tendering processes such as the G-Cloud.

Planned activities in 2014

Law Officers’ departments are keen to make further use of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes and this is built into project design and the approvals process.

Progress during 2014

The Attorney General’s Office procured through G-Cloud and Digital Service Frameworks.

Planned activities in 2015

Law Officers’ departments are keen to make further use of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes and this is built into project design and the approvals process.

Cabinet Office

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

To make government more efficient and effective, Cabinet Office will make major changes to government procurement. These changes will encourage digital collaborative working with other organisations and ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises can compete in open procurement for opportunities to work with government in future digital development.

Progress during 2013

Cabinet Office established the Digital Services procurement framework in November which gives customers access to a pool of agile suppliers (84% are small and medium-sized enterprises and 38% are also new suppliers to government) needed to help build and run services that meet the Digital by Default Service Standard.

Planned activities in 2014

Cabinet Office will roll out a managed service for central government digital services. This is a dynamic framework which will be refreshed periodically with new suppliers and services. The second generation of the framework is planned to go live in April 2014.

Progress during 2014

The Digital Marketplace replaced CloudStore in 2014. This will help the whole of the public sector to buy digital products and services from a pool of quality suppliers of all sizes, most of whom work in agile ways.

Planned activities in 2015

G-Cloud 6 and the second iteration of the Digital Services Framework will be available through the Digital Marketplace by early 2015.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) welcomes the support that Cabinet Office and Government Digital Service (GDS) will provide to departments on tendering and procurement. BIS also strongly supports this initiative as it will help support a vibrant information economy, one of the government’s strategic sectors to support our growth agenda.

Progress during 2013

BIS has continued to support GDS in simplifying the tendering process and are keen to make use of the new processes GDS puts in place in order to more easily procure the services needed to support our digital transformation.

Planned activities in 2014

BIS will continue to communicate changes and support the sharing of good practice across BIS and its agencies and arm’s length bodies (ALBs).

Progress during 2014

BIS encouraged its partner organisations to use the Digital Marketplace and continued to support services to procure the right provider via the right frameworks.

Planned activities in 2015

BIS will continue to encourage use of the Digital Marketplace across BIS organisations. Through its enhanced central team, it will support partner organisations to get the right contracts in place to deliver effective digital services.

Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is fully engaged with and committed to all developments in government procurement including around the use of digital tools. It is in the process of changing the way procurement is delivered in the department, aiming to build a departmental pipeline, enabling businesses to invest in capability and resources as necessary.

Progress during 2013

DCMS has worked with GDS and the Government Procurement Service in developing new approaches to procurement.

Planned activities in 2014

DCMS will continue to support new approaches to procurement.

Progress during 2014

DCMS worked with GDS and the Government Procurement Service on new approaches to procurement.

Planned activities in 2015

DCMS will continue to support new approaches to procurement.

Department for Education

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department for Education (DfE) will align to government defined procurement processes. It will continue to rationalise its IT estate to make sure that it is getting the most out of the technology. It will also make better use of government IT procurement best practice through using the new G-Cloud procurement framework.

Progress during 2013

DfE has already used the G-Cloud framework when procuring agile suppliers.

Planned activities in 2014

The department will use the new Digital Services framework as well as G-Cloud.

Progress during 2014

The department used the recommended government procurement frameworks for the procurement of digital services.

Planned activities in 2015

The department will continue to use the recommended government procurement frameworks for the procurement of digital services. DfE plans to work with procurement, commercial and Crown Commercial Service colleagues to increase awareness of these frameworks across the department.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) welcomes Cabinet Office’s efforts to develop new procurement arrangements that will help departments use a wider range of digital partners, while maintaining appropriate commercial and contractual safeguards.

Progress during 2013

Defra welcomed the introduction of the Digital Services framework.

Planned activities in 2014

Defra will incorporate the Digital Services framework into the review processes for new development, linking to work already started to increase its work with small and medium-sized enterprise partners.

Progress during 2014

Defra made use of the Digital Services Store (formerly G-Cloud) for software and business support services.

Planned activities in 2015

Defra has included use of the Digital Services Store in its internal processes (aligned with the Cabinet Office controls). It will continue to work with GDS and Crown Commercial Service on new developments.

Department for International Development

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department for International Development (DFID) will adapt its procurement processes as needed to take advantage of the new leaner and more lightweight tendering processes in relation to procurement of digital services. It looks forward to working closely with Cabinet Office to explore this.

Progress during 2013

DFID is committed to making all tendering and contracting process more lean and agile. It has restructured and automated its procurement reporting mechanisms, providing real-time information. This has enabled the restructuring of its teams to maximise the efficiencies this has offered. A programme of early market engagement has been accelerated and complemented by the use of its web-based supplier portal and contractors to communicate a coherent message to the relevant supply base.

DFID has been implementing digital spending controls to achieve value for money in programme spend by adopting GDS’s design principles, and creating user-centred, data-driven web platforms.

Planned activities in 2014

DFID will be upgrading its enterprise resource platform and will realign the coding taxonomy to meet the standard charter of accounts across government. This will lead to consistent reporting that enables the department to look with confidence at data from across the whole supply chain of central government spend.

DFID aims to make programme managers more aware of the cost benefits of digital when writing business cases. This provides an opportunity for departmental procurement leads to embed commissioning arrangements for new digital projects to encourage a wider range of bidders, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Progress during 2014

DFID talked to suppliers and commercial partners earlier in the procurement process to improve outcomes and value for money. It used its web-based supplier portal and online collaboration sites to communicate a coherent message to the relevant suppliers. DFID purchased from the CloudStore and awarded contracts to SMEs wherever possible.

It strengthened its process for managing digital spend. The digital team advised DFID programme managers on using digital tools and techniques to achieve better outcomes in projects and to achieve value for money.

Planned activities in 2015

DFID will give digital advice to programme teams as early as possible in their business case development so that they adhere to the government’s digital design principles.

Department for Transport

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Working with Cabinet Office, Department for Transport (DfT) are moving to a multi-source procurement model to open the market to SMEs, drive market competition and to make it easier to replace under-performing suppliers. It is piloting a shift to a flexible (agile) and iterative approach to development to progressively move from legacy IT systems to a new ‘greenfield’ IT platform.

Progress during 2013

DfT has adapted its procurement processes to ensure that G-Cloud is the preferred procurement route for all IT spend. Work continued on the major IT modernisation projects to transform not only the IT platforms but also the way solutions are commissioned, designed, developed and run. DfT avoided creating multi-million pound projects and increased opportunities to a wider supply base including SMEs.

Planned activities in 2014

New contracts for IT services will be let using the new approach and DfT will start to exit from some of the longstanding IT outsourcing contracts.

Progress during 2014

All 3 exemplar services tenders were awarded through G-Cloud and Digital Services framework.

Planned Activities in 2015

The department will continue to support this approach and look to use more SME and shorter contract business models.

Department for Work and Pensions

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) fully supports the move to leaner and more lightweight tendering processes, and will change the way it contracts for services to focus on the best outcomes for users. This will include:

• opening up access to smaller and more innovative suppliers
• contracting for flexible services that can be implemented, scaled and changed quickly to reflect variable business demand,
• getting suppliers to focus on providing better value, higher quality services focused on the needs of our users

Progress during 2013

DWP has used lightweight tendering processes for sourcing activity supporting the development of digital services in the department, particularly through the use of G-Cloud.

Planned activities in 2014

DWP will continue to use lightweight tendering processes for sourcing activity supporting the development of digital services in the department.

Progress during 2014

Lightweight tendering processes are being used for sourcing activity supporting the development of digital services in DWP, in particular through the use of the CloudStore.

Planned activities in 2015

DWP will continue to use lightweight tendering processes in 2015, ensuring that when it contracts for services it focuses on the best outcomes for users.

Department of Energy and Climate Change

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will work with GDS and Cabinet Office to make best possible use of procurement frameworks, and attempt to develop services and commission work and projects using agile methodologies and small and medium-sized enterprises wherever appropriate.

Progress during 2013

DECC has worked with Government Digital Service and Cabinet Office to make best possible use of procurement frameworks such as G-Cloud and the new Digital Services Framework. The Digital by Default programme has been set up to provide guidance to develop services and commission work and projects using agile methodologies and small and medium sized enterprises wherever appropriate.

Planned activities in 2014

DECC will continue to support the use of procurement frameworks, including G-Cloud and the Digital Services Framework.

Progress during 2014

DECC successfully implemented new procurement frameworks, such as Digital Services Framework, G-Cloud etc.

Planned activities in 2015

DECC will continue to support the use of procurement frameworks, including G-Cloud and the Digital Services Framework.

Department of Health

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Department of Health (DH) will actively seek opportunities to make use of small and medium-sized enterprises and CloudStore when procuring digital products and services wherever possible.

Progress during 2013

DH has shifted its approach to digital and IT procurement to G-Cloud first and has completed several successful procurements via G-Cloud, including for hosting, application development and various discovery and alpha stages of larger projects. DH has also produced internal guidance on G-Cloud engagement for other areas of the organisation. It has has incorporated this into the DH spend controls guidance, as well as encouraging its ALBs to follow this approach.

Planned activities in 2014

DH will continue with its G-Cloud first approach to procurement of digital services, and work with its ALBs to integrate this approach into their work. The department will also aim to be early adopters of the new Digital Services framework.

Progress during 2014

DH’s digital team completed the department’s first procurement through the Digital Services framework (DSF) at the beginning of August. All new digital products within the department are procured through G-Cloud or the DSF, including hosting, application development and discovery and alpha stages of larger projects.

The digital team provided masterclasses on the use of both G-Cloud and the DSF for procurement leads across DH and its ALBs.

Planned activities in 2015

DH Digital will continue to work with internal procurement and finance teams to align agile development processes with internal approval and procurement systems. It has also joined cross-government groups for key suppliers with Crown Commercial Service to improve the way Cabinet Office leads procurement.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

As part of implementing the digital strategy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will want to take advantage of leaner and more lightweight Cabinet Office tendering processes.

Progress during 2013

FCO has already made use of G-Cloud for its transition projects.

Planned activities in 2014

In line with government’s cloud-first approach, FCO will continue to take advantage of lightweight Cabinet Office tendering processes for its digital transition work.

Progress during 2014

FCO continued to take advantage of lightweight Cabinet Office tendering processes for its digital transition work.

Planned activities in 2015

FCO will continue to take advantage of lightweight Cabinet Office tendering processes for its digital transition work.

HM Revenue and Customs

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

HMRC will work with Cabinet Office to build on existing procurement reform to develop new commissioning arrangements for digital projects and to encourage a wider range of bidders, including smaller and medium sized enterprises. This will be accompanied by training and awareness raising for departmental procurement leads on the requirements for the new approach and HMRC will take full advantage of this.

Progress during 2013

HMRC has been actively working to use services outside its current supplier model and has procured services for development, security testing, and agile delivery specialists, through the G-Cloud framework. It has also grown internal developer capability through agency, internal, and apprentice appointments.

HMRC is using GDS supplier management frameworks to provide all digital services. This approach is part of Cabinet Office spending controls process. The department’s procurement team has been working closely with Government Procurement Service colleagues and has been trained in new procurement arrangements.

Planned activities in 2014

HMRC will continue to work with Cabinet Office and GDS to encourage pre-market engagement and take advantage of the training GDS will offer. This will be incorporated within its capability strategy and transformation plan.

Progress during 2014

HMRC procured services for development, security testing and agile delivery through G-Cloud.

Planned activities in 2015

HMRC will continue to work with Cabinet Office and GDS to encourage pre-market engagement and take advantage of the training GDS will offer. This will be incorporated within its capability strategy and transformation plan.

HM Treasury

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

While HM Treasury (HMT) does not offer digital transactional services, it will adapt its procurement processes if appropriate to take advantage of the new leaner and more lightweight tendering processes developed by Cabinet Office.

Progress during 2013

HMT has supported the development of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes.

Planned activities in 2014

HMT will continue to support the development of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes.

Progress during 2014

HMT has continued to support the development of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes.

Planned activities in 2015

HMT will continue to support the development of leaner and more lightweight tendering processes.

Home Office

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Home Office will continue to work closely with Cabinet Office and the Government Procurement Service, and will be seeking to adopt leaner procurement processes when tendering for digital service development, and more widely. We already play a leadership role in the cross-government G-Cloud programme and envisage increased procurement through this channel.

Progress during 2013

On its major programmes of procurement Home Office has been engaging proactively with the market before any official procurement is launched, ensuring that the department understands the market properly and complies with LEAN principles. Since adopting a cloud-first approach Home Office has spent over £6m through the G-Cloud framework. Simpler requirements have enabled faster, more efficient procurement for all parties, and services have been delivered at reduced cost.

Planned activities in 2014

As more of Home Office’s ICT contracts expire it is expected that the use of G-Cloud and any other available frameworks will increase where it makes commercial and business sense.

Progress during 2014

Home Office continues to play a leadership role in the cross-government G-Cloud programme. The department drew resources from multiple sources, experiences and backgrounds to create the best possible teams.

Planned activities in 2015

As its major contracts expire, Home Office continues to shift its tendering processes towards small to medium-sized enterprise providers.

Ministry of Defence

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

The chief information officer (CIO) of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will work to remove as many ICT barriers as possible, managing and upgrading the obsolete and incompatible technologies that make work in defence difficult and cumbersome. The Chief of Defence Material will stimulate the opportunity to place contracts and work with small to medium-sized enterprises, including the supply of modern digital services.

Progress during 2013

A new CIO has been appointed. The CIO’s ICT transformation plan was presented to the department’s new information board.

Planned activities in 2014

The CIO will be working closely with the digital leader to help deliver against the Government Digital Strategy. MOD has also:

• trialled cloud-based applications through the modernised staff suggestion scheme
• conducted a trial on the use of social media in the workplace, using the Yammer application
• completed a roll-out of Internet Explorer 8 as its default browser

It’s also close to being able to make Twitter, Yammer and Linkedin available through the Defence Information Infrastructure.

Progress during 2014

The department published revised internal guidance on the use of social media, for the first time explicitly allowing civil servants to use social media for work-related collaboration across organisation boundaries.

Planned activities in 2015

MOD will use cloud-based services wherever applicable.

Ministry of Justice

Departmental digital strategy commitments (December 2012)

Ministry of Justice (MOJ) will access a wider range of suppliers, with an emphasis on SMEs, and run leaner, faster tendering processes. It will also prioritise the use of open source technologies.

Progress during 2013

MOJ consistently used G-Cloud frameworks for procurement activity and almost exclusively sourced from SMEs. It began to develop a procurement strategy focused on call-off capacity to significantly reduce lead times.

Planned activities in 2014

MOJ will continue to find the most efficient routes possible to procurement, working collaboratively and constructively with procurement colleagues to identify these.

Progress during 2014

MOJ continued to work closely with procurement to improve tendering processes for digital services, and embedded a procurement specialist within digital services.

Planned activities in 2015

MOJ’s digital service division will continue to work with GDS, the Crown Commercial Service and its own commercial and contract management team to increase the pace and efficiency of procurement.

It will also work with those same parties to contribute to the development of cross-government procurement frameworks, ensuring they are fit for purpose to support agile service delivery.