Cabinet Office minister demonstrates 'simple to use' one-stop shop
All public sector organisations, including agencies and arm's-length bodies are eligible to use the government's one-stop IT shop, the Cabinet Office has announced.
Digital Marketplace, a rebranded and streamlined version of the CloudStore procurement hub provides a single place for the public sector to access and buy commodities and services ¬ such as site analytics and hosting services ¬from G-Cloud.
It will be the single store for buyers for the second iteration for the Digital Services framework when it launches in the new year, the Cabinet Office said.
A launch event, at which Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude tried out the system, stressed its ease of use for suppliers as well as public bodies. Maude said: "This government has been levelling the playing field and opening up digital procurement to the widest range of suppliers including SMEs.
We know that the range of frameworks and stores can be confusing. That¹s why the new Digital Marketplace, which makes it clearer, simpler and faster for the whole of the public sector to buy digital products and services when it needs to, is a vast improvement for both supplier and customer."
Mike Bracken, head of the Government Digital Service, said: "We are developing a whole new of way of buying digital. Modern services need to be continually iterated and improved to meet users' needs. And we need a platform that allows us to flexibly commission what we need to deliver those
services, drive down cost and drive up value. The Digital Marketplace demonstrates that we can build a service that meets these needs and allows government to work with a wide range of innovative
suppliers of all sizes."
He said that the fifth iteration of the G- framework has 1,517 suppliers - of which 88% are SMEs. Total spend has now reached £314 million through the framework, with 53% going to SMEs.
https://www.gov.uk/digital-marketplace
