Changes to our agreements in December

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 December

Agreements extended in December

Agreements that expired in December

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.

Financial assessment: how suppliers can prepare for success

Assessing and monitoring the economic and financial standing of suppliers is about understanding their financial capacity to effectively perform a contract to safeguard the delivery of public services. In this article Lucy Mccormack, Crown Commercial Service’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Champion, explains the current process at CCS and provides tips for suppliers on how to prepare for financial assessment.

Setting SMEs up for commercial success

The Cabinet Office has taken steps to ensure regular scrutiny of and feedback on government policy on small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and has had a focus on removing barriers for SMEs wishing to bid for public contracts. This is important to help SMEs to grow and win more business. 

CCS recognises that some SMEs may not be familiar with or struggle to navigate the various public sector procurement requirements. Our aim is to make it easier for businesses of all sizes to bid for work. We want to help SMEs to understand and meet the requirements for commercial success. 

One aspect of public sector procurement that is necessary for SMEs to understand, but we recognise can be challenging, concerns the financial assessment stage of the process. 

What are financial viability risk assessments and why were they introduced?

The Financial Viability Risk Assessment (FVRA) is a Cabinet Office issued template used for evaluating financial risk. The FVRA provides an audit trail as to the financial related decisions that are made as part of the procurement process.

Prior to FVRAs being introduced within the Economic and Financial Standing (EFS) assessments of bidders and the adoption of the Cabinet Office’s Contract Tiering Tool by CCS in 2021, the assessment of the financial health of suppliers was less comprehensive. This made it difficult for SMEs to understand what was required to meet the financial success criteria when bidding for public sector contracts. 

For example, the process didn’t allow an opportunity for suppliers to provide mitigating commentary or additional information to explain certain metrics. The previous assessment approach used standard accounting metrics and looked at high level items on a profit and loss or balance sheet. Previously, where an SME had some indicators of financial risk but the overall health of the corporate group was good, this was not always considered as part of financial selection. Therefore, allowing suppliers to now provide supporting information and allowing for consideration of the health of the overall corporate group in order for the bidder to demonstrate a stable financial position within the FVRA is of benefit to all suppliers, in particular SMEs. 

Why is Economic and Financial Standing assessed and monitored by Crown Commercial Service for suppliers?

The EFS requirement was introduced across government as part of the procurement process to:

  • better understand the financial capacity of organisations to perform a contract. 
  • assess whether appropriate risk mitigations need to be and can be put in place to address any identified issues with a bidder’s financial capacity. This is crucial to safeguard the delivery of public services.

Why do buyers complete their own EFS when calling off from Crown Commercial Service commercial agreements?

CCS will always complete an EFS for suppliers tendering for a CCS commercial agreement. However customers may choose to undertake their own economic and financial stability assessment when running a further competition. This is because a bidder’s financial viability and risk assessment is only a ‘point in time’ assessment and the bidder’s economic and financial stability can change over time. In some cases it may be some time after a CCS commercial agreement goes live that a contracting authority undertakes a further competition to award a call off contract

What should contracting authorities consider when assessing the Economic and Financial Standing of a bidder?

  • proportionate assessment: the EFS guidance note states that financial assessment should be related and proportionate to the contract subject matter
  • equality: all suppliers will be assessed equally and without discrimination
  • transparency: the assessment will be objective and carried out by staff with a financial background
  • audited accounts: Under the Procurement Act 2023, a contracting authority may not set a condition of participation requiring the submission of audited annual accounts, except from bidders who are, or were, required to have the accounts audited in accordance with Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 or an overseas equivalent

How does Crown Commercial Service ensure a proportionate Economic and Financial Standing assessment?

Firstly, we determine the ‘criticality’ of a potential contract or lot. The criticality will establish  the level of assessment and risk thresholds to be applied. CCS uses the Cabinet Office’s Contract Tiering Tool to measure criticality. This takes into account the potential impact of service failure, the speed and ease of switching suppliers and the contract value. Contracts or lots are then categorised as Bronze, Silver or Gold depending on the results of the Contract Tiering Tool.

How does CCS assess bidder Economic and Financial Standing?

Bronze contracts

A contract or lot calculated as bronze is typically likely to be a smaller, simpler contract for non-critical works and services.  In these cases it may be appropriate to carry out a more basic financial assessment using a third party credit score. Any bidder failing to meet a predefined score threshold would then be requested to complete a FVRA.  It is worth noting that failure to meet a third party score threshold will not exclude a bidder from the process, however it will trigger a more in-depth review of the financial health. 

Silver Contracts 

Silver Contracts are typically contracts for important but not critical works and services. In these cases a more detailed financial assessment is appropriate and risk thresholds should be set accordingly. 

Gold Contracts

Gold contracts are typically larger, longer contracts for complex or critical works and services. In these cases a very detailed financial assessment is appropriate; risk thresholds should be set at the same level as for Silver contracts or higher. Bidders of contracts or lots categorised as Silver or Gold will need to complete a silver or gold FVRA and submit this as part of their tender submission. 

How do Financial Viability Risk Assessments benefit SMEs?

Although the FVRA tool requires the bidder to enter a high quantity of financial information, which we understand can be time consuming for SMEs, it is beneficial. We’re able to make a better assessment of a bidder’s economic and financial standing. Suppliers can present their financial information with additional narrative to explain why certain metrics are creating an output. Suppliers can choose the information they provide which may include draft unpublished accounts. This gives CCS Commercial Finance a far better understanding of a bidder’s financial performance than if they relied on standard metrics alone.

Transparency is at the heart of the FVRA process. The FVRA tool includes detailed bidder instructions explaining what detail to input where. 

Once a bidder has completed their financial input, they will be asked to look at a number of ratios in terms of risk, relating to profitability, debt and liquidity. There are clear thresholds as to what is considered low, medium or high risk. The FVRA will tell suppliers what their ratio is and how they’ve performed in real time as they complete it. Suppliers can see what their performance looks like against the metrics to be assessed before they submit the FVRA. This will help suppliers to understand where the risk lies and what additional narrative they should provide to mitigate that risk.

FVRAs acknowledge the fact that corporate health doesn’t always sit within one particular entity. We look at the health of the overall corporate group where applicable. Suppliers will enter line level information for multiple entities if they belong to a group. If the bidder’s organisation has some indicators of financial risk but we can see sufficient group health behind that, the bidder will be deemed to be able to demonstrate a stable financial position.

Financial readiness – 5 tips for Suppliers on how to prepare for EFS assessment

  1. Read the “how to bid” attachment in your tender pack carefully to understand what you need to complete and by when 
  2. Understand that it might not be necessary to complete an FVRA – for Bronze contracts, CCS will assess bidders against a third party credit score before determining whether an FVRA needs to be completed
  3. Complete all of the FVRA and provide supporting documentation to evidence any information you input; choose published or draft accounts that best explain your entity’s performance
  4. Where necessary, provide additional commentary to enable CCS to have a true understanding of what is happening in your organisation –  it’s strongly advised to provide additional information if you do score red or amber against any metric
  5. Provide any additional information requested by CCS in a timely manner and by the deadline set by CCS in our communication with you

Find out more

For further information read the Government Commercial Function’s guidance note to assessing and monitoring the economic and financial standing of bidders and suppliers 

For further support on the FVRA process, please email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk and entitle your query “FVRA query” If you require further information when bidding on a CCS procurement please follow the instructions for clarification questions in the published Bid Pack.

To learn more about how CCS is levelling the playing field for suppliers of all sizes, download our digital brochure.

We always welcome feedback, suggestions or queries. These can be submitted to smefeedback@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Changes to our agreements in November

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 November

No new agreements were awarded in November.

Agreements extended in November

 

Agreements that expired in November

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.

5 traps to avoid in sustainable procurement

What is sustainability?

‘Sustainability’ is a term that can feel hard to pin down, not least when it comes to procurement. However, it can help to think of it in terms of being the means by which we achieve our goals, rather than trying to define it as an end in itself. By making it about the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ we do, we can get a wider perspective which allows us to approach the task from all possible angles.

Carbon Net Zero (CNZ) is the ‘what’ we are trying to achieve, but there is more than one approach to achieving it. The only approaches that will be ultimately successful are those which are sustainable – sustainability is the ‘how’. Switching off a light is a good way of reducing your carbon footprint immediately – but if it’s in an operating theatre during surgery, it’s not a sustainable solution!

A sustainable procurement strategy reaches every corner of your commercial activities, from what and how you buy it to who you buy from and what happens after your contract is signed.

Achieving sustainable procurement is often about taking a step back and thinking about  the way each element fits into a whole. Crown Commercial Service (now GCA) has extensive experience in devising and delivering sustainable procurement solutions for public sector customers.

And we’re continuing to help customers on their journey towards net zero. We have identified a comprehensive range of commercial solutions in areas that can help accelerate the transition to net zero, with the options available increasing all the time.

The 5 tripwires on the way to sustainable procurement:

Here are 5 common tripwires in sustainable procurement

1. Treating it as a project – not a programme

If you’re being transactional in the procurement process and only treating it as a purchasing activity, rather than running a whole programme of work to solve a problem – you might just be switching off that light in the operating theatre.

This could be thinking “I need to replace my diesel fleet with EV” instead of thinking about the problem you are ultimately trying to solve, which is: “I need to reduce the carbon footprint of our travel activities”. You might not be considering all the elements required for the decarbonisation process such as:

  • rationalising the total number of vehicles you own/lease
  • failing to prepare the infrastructure required for charging
  • exploring other sustainable modes of transport such as e-bikes

Take a step back and think of the bigger picture first.

2. Not engaging with the marketplace

In sustainability, everything is moving so fast that it’s challenging to keep up with all the latest innovations and technologies. Therefore we need to be speaking to our market early in the process: Suppliers are the experts and can present innovative solutions that you might not even realise are available.

Equally, they can also tell us where we are being overly ambitious and asking for things that the market is not yet mature enough to deliver, at least without significantly increasing the costs or risk of the contract.

Early market engagement is key at the start of the process – don’t risk the possibility of no-one bidding on your tender activities because the capacity is not there

3. Focusing on the day 1 costs

It’s understandable with the constant pressure on budgets that we focus on how we get the lowest cost possible for our commercial activities. However when we focus  only on the initial cost, we miss out on the massive savings potential that could be achieved during the life of the contract.

For example, when purchasing some new machinery, it’s tempting to go with the lowest capex cost, however we also need to consider the other cost benefits through the life of the contract, for example:

  • improved energy efficiency reducing running costs
  • access to readily available replacement parts
  • increased repairability of parts
  • extended lifecycle of machinery – buy cheap, buy twice

Think of the big picture – can I save more money in the long run?

4. Not thinking about the future

So you know what you want to buy today to best meet your sustainability needs – that’s a great place to start. However, we can’t overlook the importance of understanding our needs for tomorrow and making sure  our purchases will continue to help us in our overall mission.

For example, signing up to long term contracts without options for innovation and variation prevents us from being able to unlock the fast moving benefits of the advances in sustainability. Is a long term lease on that energy storage solution the best choice in a rapidly changing technological environment?

Is your sustainable solution…sustainable?

5. Focussing on the product over outcomes

Environmental sustainability is not something that you buy, it’s a continually evolving process that achieves outcomes through good and intentional commercial practices. We often get focused on buying “sustainability products” such as solar panels and EV cars, but we can’t reach net zero if we only think about buying new things to meet our reduction targets.

If we want to reach net zero, we need to consider all aspects of our impact.

For example, when looking to improve the environmental efficiency of your heating and cooling systems, you may specify the market to provide a replacement system with the highest levels of environmental efficiency. However you may have been able to achieve a significant improvement to the efficiency of the systems just by upgrading and replacing certain elements.

Suppliers will respond to the question you ask at tender, so think what problem are you looking for them to solve or what are you looking for the procurement to deliver opposed to specifying a specific solution.

Think about the ends, not the means.

The real key to sustainable procurement is to take the time to consider a strategic approach, before getting straight into the tactics. If you are looking for further guidance in developing your sustainable procurement strategy, the GCA Sustainability team is here to help – contact them on sustainability@gca.gov.uk

For more information visit the Social Value and Sustainability pages on our website.

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.