The UK government’s G-Cloud procurement framework launched in April this year. The civil service recently updated the sales figures for the framework online, allowing us to see which departments have spent the most through G-Cloud from April to November, and which suppliers have made the most money.
Here are the top ten buying departments:
| Department | Total spend |
| DWP | £651,860 |
| NHS Connecting for Health | £510,352 |
| Ministry of Justice | £304,175 |
| Cabinet Office | £234,691 |
| Student Loans Company Limited | £217,229 |
| DEFRA | £207,567 |
| University of Hertfordshire | £177,020 |
| British Council | £131,900 |
| CMU Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | £85,000 |
| BIS | £80,146 |
The second biggest spender to date has been NHS Connecting for Health (yes, it still exists), thanks entirely to its £510,351 engagement with another Agile software development agency, BJSS. Based in the UK, BJSS provides business analysis, project management, software development and testing services. Again, not really cloud.
Here are the top ten suppliers on the framework:
| Supplier | Total sales |
| Emergn Ltd | £801,853 |
| BJSS | £701,939 |
| Huddle | £504,179 |
| Squiz UK ltd | £201,970 |
| Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd | £153,195 |
| Foden Grealy Ltd | £147,600 |
| Ixis | £131,900 |
| Quo Imus Ltd | £130,994 |
| Symantec Ltd | £125,249 |
| Learning Pool | £113,000 |
The aforementioned engagements place Emergn and BJSS at the top of the supplier charts as well. Huddle, the Silicon Roundabout-based document collaboration supplier (and bona fide cloud company) comes in at third by value, but it had the greatest number of engagements so far. Its biggest contract to date has been with the Ministry of Justice.
It’s early days, but looking at the numbers clarifies a significant point about G-Cloud. Despite the name, the framework is not really about cloud computing per se; rather, it is about procuring IT systems and services through an online marketplace. Indeed, when it was first mooted, G-Cloud was referred to as an ‘app store’ for government.
This is not really a problem, as long as everyone knows what they are getting in to. One possible source of confusion down the line may be the software and development services framework that the government tendered back in June.
That framework, potentially worth up to £1 billion, covered everything from big data analytics and ERP systems to geographical information systems and IT security. The government has since put all its future IT procurement frameworks on hold, so it may not see the light of day. But if it does, could there be a danger of framework sprawl?
