Call for evaluators for our new management consultancy agreement

We are looking for a group of volunteers from public sector organisations to help with the evaluation of our new Management Consultancy Framework (MCF4) agreement. This will replace MCF3.

Evaluators are an important part of the procurement process and, in addition to playing an important role within CCS, becoming an evaluator counts towards your corporate contribution, and is encouraged in departments across the Civil Service.

Evaluation of this procurement will consist of an independent evaluation followed by consensus meetings.

The procurement timescales are currently:

  • publication of find a tender notice (FTS): 8 November 2024
  • evaluation period: 10 February to 28 March 2025
  • consensus: April/May 2025
  • award: July 2025

Volunteers will also be required to attend a short training call before being an evaluator (2 hours maximum) and be provided with the required tools and information.

Evaluators will need to have commercial experience, experience in a specialism covered under the lots on the agreement (such as business, finance or health) and/or knowledge of the management consultancy category. 

If you are interested in acting as an evaluator or would like any further information, please contact peoplepillarcomms@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

New first of its kind CCS agreement for public sector food procurement goes live

The Buying Better Food and Drink [RM6279] commercial agreement will reshape how public sector customers procure their food and drink requirements with a simplified route to market and greater access to an extensive range of reliable and sustainable food and drink suppliers.

The agreement will ensure standards of food safety and quality by following the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services. 

Sustainability will be a key priority. In addition to less food waste generated by procuring the right product for the need and the potential benefit of less food mileage, depending upon the scope of the customer requirement, the supplier will also now work with customers and suppliers to share sustainability best practice. 

Reducing carbon footprint within the industry is an overarching goal the framework will work towards. It will offer a buying solution that allows customers to better understand the broader impacts of their purchases and to make sourcing choices based on both ethical and environmental criteria. By sourcing from sustainable producers through transparent supply chains, buyers can incentivise farmers to adopt more eco-friendly practices through increased demand.

As this is a new agreement for CCS and the first to support dynamic food procurement principles at scale for public sector buyers, development has taken over 3 years to allow for extensive engagement to help shape this procurement approach – including one-to-one supplier sessions, newsletters, external stakeholder forums and customer surveys with food suppliers and industry bodies across the UK. 

The agreement aims to simplify food procurement through collective purchasing and shorter supply chains, while at the same time focusing on achieving economic, environmental, and social value. It is open to all public sector customers and covers all food and drink categories. 

As part of this, customers will also use a single online portal provided by supplier Entegra, with a simple ordering and invoicing process, and a single point of contact. Access to an extensive network of regional and national distributors will be opened up to them, and in time their buying choices will be supported with information on sustainable buying, carbon footprint reduction and higher welfare standards. By leveraging dynamic procurement methods, it aims to foster greater diversity throughout the food supply chain, and as it evolves, will deliver key innovations such as farm level sustainability change with efficient supply of this sustainably produced food.

It will also open up public sector food and drink contracts to food producers, including small businesses. Public sector procurement teams will have the option to add their preferred small business suppliers to the agreement and those originating from their closest geographical area.

The initial contract value is estimated to attract £100 million worth of spend over the 4 year contract period, which is a small proportion of the annual £2.1 billion public sector food spend. Public sector buyers are free to choose to buy from other buying organisations who provide food products through frameworks.

Sam Ulyatt, CEO of Crown Commercial Service said:

We’re delighted to be launching this agreement to introduce better quality, seasonal and nutritious food into the public sector, for example schools and hospitals. 

This agreement will enable increased opportunities for SMEs across the UK to support the government’s ambitions.

The Buying Better Food and Drink agreement will run for an initial 2 years, with an optional 1+1 extension, to allow CCS to pilot this approach. The agreement will continue to be compliant under Public Contract Regulations 2015 following the introduction of the Procurement Regulations 2024. 

Benefits of the agreement

  • greater transparency for the public sector, detailing the who, where and how of food production
  • greater opportunities for SME producers. CCS will monitor and target increased SME supplier participation during the lifetime of the agreement
  • regular price benchmarking to encourage competitiveness, whilst supporting fairness for national and regional producers and helping to kickstart economic growth at regional/local level
  • supports sustainable production processes such as soil fertility and biodiversity protection 
  • bespoke SME supplier onboarding to the Entegra supply chain to deliver optimised buyer procurement needs

Find out more

To find out more about the Buying Better Food and Drink Agreement visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk / 0345 410 2222.

Don’t forget, you can find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

Supplier information for the Procurement Act 2023

What is the Procurement Act 2023 and what does it mean for suppliers?

The Procurement Act 2023 is a new law that will significantly change public procurement for the first time since 2015.

The act is due to come into effect on 24 February 2025 and it aims to simplify and improve the procurement process by:

  • making public procurement more flexible and more transparent
  • introducing new opportunities that benefit suppliers of all sizes, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSEs)

This brief supplier guide outlines the key changes and benefits for businesses that supply goods, works or services to public sector organisations.

Benefits of the Procurement Act 2023 for suppliers

The act should make it easier for suppliers to do business with contracting authorities. Read more about the benefits below:

1. Simplified bidding process

The Procurement Act 2023 aims to provide more opportunities for suppliers by:

  • simplifying the bidding processes, making it easier for suppliers to bid for contracts and engage with the public sector
  • making commercial frameworks more open, ensuring that prospective suppliers are not excluded for extended periods
  • removing bureaucratic barriers for smaller businesses and VCSEs so they can bid for more contracts
  • enhancing negotiation and partnership opportunities through a new ‘competitive flexible’ procedure

2. Improved financial stability and cash flow for suppliers

Transparency and financial stability for suppliers are key focuses of the new legislation. The Act will significantly improve cash flow for many businesses working with government organisations by:

  • strengthening provisions for prompt payment throughout the supply chain
  • extending 30-day payment terms to a broader range of public sector contracts

3. Greater transparency and accessibility with the Central Digital Platform

The act will introduce a Central Digital Platform (CDP) which will be an enhancement to the existing Find a Tender Service.

The CPD will:

  • simplify the process of finding and bidding for contracts
  • feature a straightforward registration approach
  • allow you to store and easily update your core business details for use across multiple bids
  • remain free to use, ensuring equal access for all potential suppliers and making it easier to search and set up alerts for tenders that interest you

You will not need to bookmark a new service page, the find a tender service URL will stay the same. However, suppliers will need to re-register and enter their organisation information.

4. Greater oversight

The new regime also introduces greater oversight to ensure fair practices. It will establish a new Procurement Review Unit (PRU) to enhance public sector procurement practices and safeguard against suppliers deemed to pose risks. 

The PRU will ‘go-live’ when the new procurement act goes live in February 2025, comprised of 3 services:

  1. the existing Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS)
  2. a new Procurement Compliance Service (PCS)
  3. a new Debarment Review Service (DRS)

The Cabinet Office will provide more details on these services, and how they will work, when the new regime goes live. 

How suppliers can prepare for Procurement Act 2023

Changes will not happen instantly. The existing rules will continue to apply for procurement contracts that are already in progress. 

As a supplier, you should prepare for the changes by familiarising yourself with the Act. 

You can also sign up for regular updates. The Cabinet Office will use this to keep you up to date on webinars and ‘how to’ videos. 

How to learn more about the new Procurement Act

If you want to dive in deeper, you can also access many of the training materials Cabinet Office are providing to public sector buyers. This includes our suite of guidance documents exploring the different elements of the Act. 

Commercial Pipeline update

The original go-live date for the new procurement regulations has been extended from 28 October 2024 to 24 February 2025, which was a completely unforeseen change.

Following an extensive review of our pipeline, we have transitioned some agreements to PCR 2015 and extended others, which we could not have planned for until now, but will ensure availability and continuity of service to customers planning to use those agreements and will provide certainty for our teams and suppliers.

Please note that the Procurement Act 2023 is not retroactive. All current live commercial agreements will continue operating under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). We will operate agreements under both PCR2015 and the Procurement Act 2023 for a period of time; at least until existing agreements expire, are replaced, or cease to exist. 

Agreements transitioning to PCR 2015 

Several agreements originally planned under the new regulations will now proceed under the current regulations (PCR 2015). These include:

  • RM6361 – Multifunctional Devices
  • RM6310 – Audit and Assurance Services
  • RM6353 – Tyres, Glass and Telematics
  • RM6360 – Legal Panel for Government

Where applicable, these agreements will have revised durations with suitable break points to allow flexibility for future transitions to the new regime.

Agreements being extended

Several agreements originally planned under the new regulations will now be extended for a period of 6 months. The extension periods will apply from the current expiry date of the

commercial agreement. These include:

  • RM6123 – Media Services
  • RM6168 – Estates Management Services 
  • RM6171 – Courier and Specialist Movements
  • RM6181 – Contact Centres and Business Services
  • RM6165 – Construction Professional Services 

The following agreements will now be extended for a period of 9 months. The extension periods will apply from the current expiry date of the commercial agreement. These include:

  • RM6100 – Technology Services 3
  • RM1043.8 – DOS 6
  • RM6193 – Software Design and Implementation Services

Find out more

If you need further details about any of these agreements, please get in touch.

You can also find out what other procurements we are working on by exploring our upcoming deals page.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter why not also subscribe to receive these updates and more directly to your inbox? Just fill in this short form.

Changes to our agreements in October

Welcome to our monthly framework update to help you with your procurement planning. We will publish it online each month and also share it in our newsletters and on our social media channels.

The update provides a brief summary of what has been awarded, extended or expired during the previous month. It also outlines what is due to expire in the next 3 months.

You can also get an overview of all of our live frameworks in our interactive digital brochure.

Agreements awarded in October

Agreements extended in October

Agreements that expired in October

Agreements due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these agreements get in touch.

You can also find out what new procurements we are working on by exploring our upcoming agreement page.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter why not also subscribe to receive these updates and more directly to your inbox? fill in this short form.

G-Cloud 14 agreement goes live

Thousands of small businesses have once again won the chance to supply cloud-based computing services to the public sector. 

G-Cloud 14 is now live for customers to buy from and they can begin to access tens of thousands of cloud hosting, cloud software and additional support services.

The agreement continues to enable suppliers of all sizes to win business in the public sector, with 90% of the suppliers on G-Cloud 14 being small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, 70% of the total suppliers are classified as micro and small organisations. 

G-Cloud offers public sector organisations a straightforward and compliant way to purchase cloud based services, all of which are available as off-the-shelf, pay-as-you-go solutions to further simplify the buying process. 

Over the lifetime of the G-Cloud agreement, £2.3 billion, an average of £192 million each year, has been accrued in commercial benefits, representing significant savings for the public purse.

Under G-Cloud 14, assessments of the economic and financial standing of prospective suppliers have been introduced to the selection process for Lots 1-3. Aligning with the government’s Sourcing Playbook, this additional assessment phase provides customers with even greater assurance over the financial stability of awarded suppliers. 

Philip Orumwense, Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer for Technology at Crown Commercial Service, said:

G-Cloud continues to be a great public sector success, offering significant opportunities to a large number of SMEs and providing an easily accessible marketplace to access cloud computing services.

This new iteration demonstrates CCS’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding the buying process for our customers as we work to unlock the full power of procurement.

Seth Finegan, UK CEO of Informed Solutions which has been named as a supplier on G-Cloud 14 said:

As a scaling data science, AI, and digital technology provider the value of G-Cloud as an effective marketplace has been substantial. 

Through G-Cloud we’ve been presented with opportunities to bid for and win nationally significant digital transformation contracts for essential cloud-based services that are used by millions of people every day in an increasingly connected and converged world.

G-Gloud 14 will run for a period of 18 months. Contracting authorities are able to award a maximum call-off term of 36 months with an optional extension of up to 12 months. 

Lots 1-3 of G-Cloud 14 are accessible via the Contract Award Service (CAS), and customers looking to buy through these will need to register through the Public Procurement Gateway (PPG).

Lot 4 is accessible through our eSourcing platform, or customers can use their own platforms to manage their further competition process. Customers using our platform will need to register for an account separately to use it. 

Find out more

To find out more about G-Cloud 14, visit the agreement page or sign up to one of our monthly customer webinars.

CCS also has a number of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), negotiated to enhance commercial value across a wide range of cloud suppliers and services which can be procured through G-Cloud 14. For more information please visit our MoU page.  

For any questions about buying through the framework or to request access to an MoU’s pricing model, get in touch.

Crown Commercial Service announces a new Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft UK, replacing the Digital Transformation Arrangement 21 (DTA21)

SPA24, which replaces the expiring Digital Transformation Arrangement 21 (DTA21) and will take effect on 1 November 2024, offers access to enhanced value across Microsoft’s portfolio of products and services to eligible public sector organisations, regardless of the size of the organisation or the procurement route used.

SPA24, which will take effect on 1 November 2024 offers access to enhanced value across
Microsoft’s portfolio of products and services to eligible public sector organisations,
regardless of the size of the organisation or the procurement route used.

The UK Government has a range of strategic initiatives supporting its digital transformation,
including the National Data Strategy, the Cloud First Policy and the One Government Cloud
Strategy, among others. SPA24 is aligned with this strategic approach by providing access
to enhanced value to all eligible public sector organisations, when procuring digital products
and services, which they use daily in the delivery of public services.

Roger Gonourie, Chief Commercial Officer at CCS said:

This agreement will support eligible public sector organisations to pursue their digital
transformation and innovation ambitions, by enabling them to benefit from leveraging the
size and scale of the UK public sector. It shows CCS’s continued commitment to providing
maximum commercial value for our customers, removing barriers to growth across the public sector. It’s about securing a better future for us all.

Find out more

CCS will be running a number of aggregated competitions via resellers to further improve the
value for money on products and services for public sector organisations. The summer 2025
aggregation is now open for registrations of interest until 29 November 2024. For details of
future planned aggregations, check our list of upcoming events.

Eligible public sector organisations do not need to use a particular procurement route in
order to take advantage of SPA24 for Microsoft products and services and must ensure they
undertake a compliant procurement process. CCS recommends using our Technology
Products and Associated Services 2 (RM6098) agreement, but organisations can choose the
route to market that best fits their needs.

To find out more about the MoU and how to access the enhanced value it offers on Microsoft products, register for one of our customer webinars.

If you have any further questions about the SPA24 or for expert advice on how to achieve
the best value in your procurement, contact our helpdesk by filling out our online form,
quoting ‘Microsoft SPA24’ and we will get back in touch with you.

New simplified agreement, providing greater flexibility for travel, accommodation and venue services procurement, goes live

Travel, Transport, Accommodation and Venue Solutions [RM6342] consolidates 2 existing CCS agreements – Travel and Venue Solutions [RM6217], which is due to expire on 13 December 2024, and Public Sector Global Travel and Venue Solutions [RM6164], which expired in June 2024 – creating the first comprehensive CCS agreement within this sector.

The agreement will provide a complete range of fully negotiated fares and rates for rail, air travel and accommodation as well as event services (including venue finding and hiring) and other travel support services. The scope has been increased to include an expanded range of ad-hoc ground transport services, for example, non-emergency ambulances, rail replacement buses and pre-booked transport services such as vehicle hire.

Following extensive market engagement the customer journey has been simplified to offer buyers the opportunity to source a comprehensive solution through a single supplier on one Lot – reducing the need to separate their requirements across multiple lots and implementation time. 

The remaining 3 Lots on the agreement can also be used by customers to procure the services they need across our range of approved suppliers. This includes, for the first time, a dedicated Lot offering the booking of exclusive and non-exclusive use accommodation and venues for civilian cohorts, such as rough sleepers, who are under the care of a public sector organisation. Buyers here can also benefit from additional support services if required, such as welfare or security services.

Helen MacCarthy, Commercial Director, Corporate at CCS said:

This agreement will give public sector organisations increased choice and value in how they meet their travel and accommodation needs.

It is a prime example of how CCS provides customers with swift and easy access through leading technology to solutions at best market pricing.

Travel, Transport, Accommodation and Venue Solutions will run for 3 years, with the option to extend by a further year. The agreement will be made up of 4 Lots:

  • Lot 1: UK and Overseas-Booked Business Travel, Approved Civilian Programmes and Emergency Response Solutions
  • Lot 2: UK-Booked National and International Business Travel
  • Lot 3: Venue-Find and Supporting Services for Meetings, Conferences and Events
  • Lot 4: Accommodation and Venues for Approved Civilian Programmes

This agreement will continue to be compliant under Public Contract Regulations 2015 following the introduction of the Procurement Regulations 2024. 

Benefits and innovations

  • a wide range of additional supporting services for temporary and emergency accommodation, including welfare and security staff and translation services
  • solutions to facilitate fully virtual, digital or hybrid meetings and events as well as fully in-person events
  • continued provision of vital emergency services for UK and overseas citizens, including repatriation and evacuation
  • coverage of UK and overseas points of sale to cater for public sector buyers with a global presence

Find out more

To find out more about Travel, Transport, Accommodation and Venue Solutions visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk / 0345 410 2222.

Don’t forget, you can find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

How to become a supplier for Government Commercial Agency in 5 essential steps

NB: All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Why supply through Crown Commercial Service?

CCS is the UK’s largest central purchasing body. Our main role is to manage and simplify the procurement process for the government departments and public sector organisations we represent. Here is why you should consider becoming a CCS supplier:

  • access to 20,000 UK public sector buyers spending over £30 billion a year
  • opportunities to supply across 83 categories of common goods and services including construction, office and print solutions, energy, fleet, research and travel
  • a simplified tender process for public procurement
  • prompt payment policy implementation

Can you become a public sector supplier?

The public sector spends £385 billion each year procuring goods and services from the private sector. Winning a contract to provide services or supplies to public sector buyers is a great way to increase your revenues, enhance your reputation, be reliably paid – with our prompt payment policies, and grow your organisation.

Contrary to popular belief, public sector procurement isn’t only for large organisations. In fact many suppliers are:

  • small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
  • voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSEs)
  • micro-businesses

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) wants to encourage organisations of all sizes to become suppliers. This article will guide you through the process of becoming a public sector supplier.

Simplifying the tendering process for all suppliers

CCS is committed to making it easier for businesses of all sizes to bid for government and public sector contracts. We do this by:

  1. Ensuring transparency in public procurement: we publish all details of upcoming procurements on our website.
  2. Using data-lead category strategies: we understand what our customers need and what the supply market can offer which enables us to write clear bid packs.
  3. Implementing prompt payment policy: companies failing to pay 95% of invoices within 60 days are excluded from bidding to support smaller businesses in their supply chain.

Types of Crown Commercial Service agreements

*CCS offers 2 main types of commercial agreements:

  1. Frameworks.
  2. Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS).

Additionally, there is a Low Value Purchase System (LVPS) agreement for buying uncomplicated goods and services. All suppliers, including SMEs and VCSEs, can apply to join and supply through this commercial agreement at any time.

5 steps to becoming a Crown Commercial Service supplier

Follow these 5 steps to supply goods and services to the government and public sector.

1. Learn how the tendering process works for UK public sector procurement

When appointing new suppliers, Crown Commercial Service (CCS) must follow a formal tendering process to ensure procurement regulations are met. This includes publicly listing all opportunities for potential suppliers.

The tendering process will depend on the type of commercial agreement suppliers wish to join:

  • become a framework supplier: respond to a contract notice in the Find a Tender service
  • become a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) supplier: register for a place on one of our Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and complete a standard Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ)

2. Find public sector tender opportunities

Search for opportunities to sell goods and services to the public sector through:

  • Find a Tender service: search for high value opportunities (agreements with an estimated total lifetime value of over £138,760)
  • Contracts Finder: search for public sector contracts worth over £12,000 (or £30,000 outside central government) including VAT in England and with non-devolved bodies
  • Dynamic Purchasing Marketplace: find more information on what the DPS is about and register as a supplier
  • upcoming agreements: see what opportunities are coming up in our procurement pipeline

There are also many regional and sector specific procurement organisations including, in local government, the NHS and universities. Many public sector bodies also have their own procurement teams.

3. Respond to a tender opportunity and submit your bid

When you have found an opportunity, read the invitation to tender carefully. This is your opportunity to ask us any clarification questions about the bid.

CCS procurements are conducted using our eSourcing portal. You will need to be registered on the eSourcing portal to take part in CCS tender opportunities. To register you will need to provide information including:

  • full legal name of your organisation
  • your DUNS number: a unique 9 digit number provided to organisations free of charge
  • profile information describing your organisation and the size of your business

We will respond to clarification questions in our eSourcing portal and share them with all bidders for transparency purposes. You should submit your tender bid before the tender deadline.

4. Check our eSourcing portal for updates on the tendering process

At this stage we will evaluate all the tenders. This includes:

  • the selection questionnaire
  • answers to each quality question
  • the pricing submission

Suppliers should regularly check our eSouring portal to stay up to date on their tender. We will use the portal to ask you any clarification questions and list the outcome of the evaluation.

5. Sign and return your agreement to supply

If you are successful you will sign and return your agreement. You will then be onboarded as a supplier to the relevant framework or DPS. Public sector buyers may then invite you to bid on their call-off competitions.

Standard template for framework contracts

We have a standard template for framework contracts for common goods and services. You can see our standard core terms and conditions, along with schedule templates.

Different agreements may change the terms depending on the category subject. You should be mindful of checking the terms and raising questions during clarification.

Selling goods or services to the public sector

To win government and public sector contracts you must make your strengths and capabilities clear by writing a tender bid. 

Legacy IT or the cloud?: digital transformation in the public sector

What are Legacy IT systems?

Legacy IT refers to your organisation’s IT infrastructure and systems, their component software and hardware and related business processes. It becomes ‘legacy’ when the technology becomes:

  • impossible to update
  • expensive and no longer cost effective
  • considered an end-of-life product

Across government and the wider public sector, legacy IT systems are a key source of inefficiency and a major constraint to improving and modernising government services. Often at the heart of cyber breach incidents, legacy IT systems can pose a significant risk to an organisation.

However, many public sector organisations will often continue to use legacy systems that are essential to their daily business needs because of the time, cost and general upheaval associated with migrating to an alternative system. This can leave organisations in ‘legacy limbo’.

What challenges do public sector organisations face with legacy IT? 

Day to day processes and procedures can be unnecessarily complex working with an outdated system. With public sector organisations having to do ‘more with less’ and government funding being reduced, the last thing an organisation needs is a legacy IT system that:

  • is expensive to run: traditional and legacy IT systems are not cost efficient, they need constant upgrades, increasing operational costs
  • increases resource and capacity: needing regular upgrades requires constant attention from the IT department, impacting employee time and resources
  • has scalability issues: it can be difficult to increase or improve traditional IT systems quickly to meet demand which can impact user experience and increase system downtime
  • poses security issues: if your IT system can’t support compliance standards, such as cyber essentials, it becomes vulnerable to attacks from cyber criminals which can result in a data breach that could cost your organisation more than just money

All data must be protected

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) states all data must be protected.

For example, local authorities are responsible for the security and privacy of any personal information they hold. Some data will belong to vulnerable individuals, for example, looked-after children. Any breach could result in a significant fine and/or could place your residents and service users at risk.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the provision of computing services including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence over the internet.

Why is the cloud better than legacy IT?

Across the UK many public sector organisations are moving to the cloud as their main route to digital transformation. Migrating from legacy IT to the cloud can add value and achieve real tangible benefits such as improved value for money and increased security and resilience. Additional benefits also include:

  • improved sustainability: with public cloud the vendor’s underlying ICT is located off-premises in large hyperscale data centres which are extremely efficient and reduces carbon
  • improved hybrid working: moving away from on-premises infrastructure and towards the cloud, organisations can scale services up or down according to usage – such as lower weekend demand – and replace manual tasks with AI-powered automation

The government’s cloud first policy

The previous government’s Cloud First Policy has produced demonstrable benefits across the public sector. The policy sets out how ‘when procuring new or existing services, public sector organisations should default to Public Cloud first, using other solutions only where this is not possible.’

The policy was reassessed in 2019 and remains a flagship technology policy.

How can you migrate from legacy IT to the cloud?

Choosing the right IT migration strategy ensures you get the best value for money from the cloud. It’s important to balance performance with cost to make the right choice for your organisation.

We know that getting the balance right is difficult for some organisations. For some, cloud migration may be easy and once complete, will lower operating costs. For others, migration may be time-consuming and expensive.

However, migrating to the cloud does not have to be all or nothing. Many IT leaders in the public sector are leaning towards a hybrid strategy. This enables you to benefit from the best of traditional IT, alongside private, community and public cloud.

Crown Hosting: an alternative to public cloud

Our Crown Hosting agreement provides a hybrid option, enabling you to benefit from the cloud without the disruption of implementing a whole new IT system. 

Crown Hosting uses the same campus-based hyperscale data centre technology as the public cloud vendors and shares the same sites. It provides you with a low cost and minimal carbon footprint for traditional IT, private cloud and community cloud.

How CCS can help with your digital transformation

We can help you migrate from legacy IT to cloud computing systems. Take a look at our agreements to see how we can help you start or progress your migration journey:

  • Crown Hosting: access secure, reliable and efficient specialist rooms (data halls) and buildings (data centres) which you can use to operate your server, network and security infrastructure (ICT) from
  • G-Cloud: buy cloud-based computing services and solutions such as hosting, software and cloud support
  • Cloud Compute: access all cloud computing services. Includes Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and other additional ancillary services

Digital transformation in local authorities

GCA has developed a free, easy to use 5-step guide to digital transformation for local authorities. Find out more and download the guide from the GCA website.