A shake-up of the Digital Marketplace has led to the creation of a three categories within the new Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework.
A blogpost from the Government Digital Service (GDS) says the trio will be named ‘digital outcomes’, ‘digital specialists as a service’ and ‘user research studios and participants’.
The first will cover suppliers who provide solutions for the various stages in delivering a digital service, such as research, test, design, evolve, retire and support.
Digital specialists as a service will deal with suppliers who offer their expertise as a service, reflecting the various roles defined in the Service Design Manual. They can be commissioned to deliver a specific outcome with defined deliverables.
User research studios and participants are self-explanatory and, GDS says, may eventually become separate lots.
All the new categories will be available to public sector buyers from early next year.
Research reflection
GDS says the move is a step towards the final design of a new framework and reflects the findings of its user research.
It follows the replacement of the Digital Services framework with Digital Outcomes and Specialists as part of an overhaul of procurement in the area. The move was announced last week by Tony Singleton, director of the Digital Marketplace Programme, and followed up by an online explanation that research had shown buyers were confused by the existing framework names.
It was decided that the words ‘outcomes’ and ‘specialists’ more accurately described what was being supplied, and that they emphasised more than just filling the gaps in government teams.
Other changes involve a significant reduction in the size of contracts, and an end to reverse auctions within the Digital Marketplace.
Pictured: logon screen | HAAP Media Ltd. ("freeimages")
