A presentation for Eduserv staff, outlining what G-Cloud is, how it is used and what effect it is having.

1. G-Cloud - what is it?
for Eduserv staff
@andypowe11
May 2014

2. What is G-Cloud?
• A framework agreement with suppliers that sets
out the terms and conditions under which
purchases (‘call-offs’) can be made throughout
the term of the agreement
• Part of a suite of ‘IT transformation’ policies from
the current government that includes:
– Cloud First
– Digital by default
– GDS
– CloudStore
– SME agenda

3. Cloud First
“The formal introduction of a ‘Cloud First’ policy will
drive wider adoption of cloud computing in the
public sector, boosting business – and furthering
savings and efficiencies – through the
government CloudStore, which is a quicker, cheaper
and more competitive way for the public sector to
buy IT”
Francis Maude
Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster
General
May 2013

4. Cloud First
“On average, we saw savings of around 50% and
there are examples of savings of more than this.
Other benefits buyers have spoken about include
greater transparency; flexibility; a
simpler, clearer, faster way to buy and ultimately
better value for the taxpayer – once the
requirement has been defined, we have put a
contract in place in three minutes!”
Tony Singleton
G-Cloud Programme Director
April 2014

5. Three minutes?
• …yeah, right!
• Emphasis is largely on cost savings and
efficiency
• No real mention of
innovation, agility, scalability, etc.
• Which rather flies in the face of received
wisdom about why it is good to buy from the
cloud
• But anyway…

6. G-Cloud - the detail
• G-Cloud frameworks last for 1 year…
• …and a new framework is issued very 6 months
• So G-Cloud 5 is just about to go live, G-Cloud 3 is
just about to end
• Purchases thru G-Cloud have maximum life of 2
years
– which doesn’t necessarily mean that customers have
to move suppliers every 2 years
– but they do have to re-evaluate every
2 years

7. What is CloudStore?
• Online shop-front for G-Cloud
• A catalogue of available services
• Descriptions, accreditations, pricing, terms &
conditions, etc.
• Primarily intended as a procurement device
rather than a marketing device
– but inevitably some cross-over

8. G-Cloud sales
• Are supposed to be:
– cloud-like
– commodity sales
– little scope for negotiating bespoke services
– priced for government as a whole (i.e. you have to
offer same price to all buyers)

9. Meanwhile, in the real world
• Bespoke ‘solutions’ can be built from
commodity services
• Individual services can have multiple ‘service
options’
• Pricing can include discounts
– which can be complex
– e.g. we discount by both volume and duration
• Buyers typically do not understand that they
can’t negotiate a bespoke sale

10. What can/cannot be sold?
• G-Cloud services grouped into 4 lots:
– Lot 1 - IaaS
– Lot 2 - PaaS
– Lot 3 - SaaS
– Lot 4 - Specialist Cloud Services (services outside of
the three traditional ‘as a service’ (aaS) areas to
support customers taking on cloud services)
• Colocation
• Agile Software Development

11. Who can buy?
• Central government
• Related public sector bodies, ALBs, etc.
• Local government
• Third sector organisations
• NHS and other health providers
• Education (all levels)
• See canibuyoffgcloudornot.com

12. Guidance to buyers
• Use ‘long-list -> short-list -> select’ process
• Use ‘lowest cost’ or ‘MEAT-based’ selection at
short-list stage
• Ask suppliers for extra information to help
make final decision on ‘best fit’ basis
• Note 1: buyers must maintain records to prove
that their assessment has been fair
• Note 2: long-list -> short-list often includes
filtering by accreditation status

13. Eduserv and G-Cloud
• We’ve been on G-Gloud since G-Cloud 2
• Our offers have been relatively static since
then - currently
– Five professional services (Lot 4)
– Four managed services (Lot 4)
– Three IaaS services (Lot 1)
– Two SaaS services (Lot 3)
– …and a partridge in a pear tree

14. G-Cloud and accreditation
• IL2 and IL3 accreditations linked to specific
G-Cloud services (using unique reference
number)
• Badges listed next to services on CloudStore
• Semi-automatic carry forward to new
iterations of the framework
• Not yet clear how this will work in the new
world of Official information with
unassured, assured and accredited services

15. G-Cloud by numbers
• £154,635,952 - spent thru G-Cloud to end of
March 2014
• 60% - of total sales by value awarded to SMEs
• 79% - of total sales by value procured by
central government
• >13,000 - services listed on CloudStore
• 1,160 – suppliers listed on CloudStore
(G-Cloud 5)

16. G-Cloud by numbers
• 300 – number of suppliers who have actually
made a sale on G-Cloud
• 437 – number of customers who have bought on
G-Cloud
• £16,725 – average total sales per SME on G-Cloud
• 38 - only 38 out of nearly 300 UK councils and
local authorities have been involved in
procurement using G-Cloud
• 76% - of local authorities and councils have no
knowledge of what the G-Cloud framework can
be used for

17. And for Eduserv
• £1,283,420 - sales via G-Cloud (to end of
March 2014)
• £1,199,419 – of which is to DfE !
• 3rd - our G-Cloud ranking, in terms of IaaS
sales over last 6 months (behind Skyscape and
ComputaCenter)

18. Conclusion - G-Cloud successes
• Consistent growth in sales
• Improved competition
• More opportunity for SMEs
• Positive impact on supplier behaviour
• Flagship individuals have been quite effective
at promoting G-Cloud (Chris Chant, Denise
McDonagh, Liam Maxwell, …)

19. But…
• Concern that move of
G-Cloud into GDS will lower
its profile
• G-Cloud sales represent ~1%
of overall government spend
on ICT
• Claims around cost savings don’t seem overly
convincing in context of cloud vs not cloud
• Impact on buyer behaviour minimal
• Limited in-roads into wider public sector
• Little progress in encouraging ‘cloud’ mentality in
buyer community

20. And, so far…
• CloudStore has had some usability issues
• Attempts to ‘compare on price’ largely failed
(at the CloudStore level)
• Now being re-engineered as new, bigger
‘Digital Marketplace’ (which will include
additional frameworks)
• Not yet clear whether this will be an
improvement