G-Cloud suppiers must make it clearer what services they are offering through the public sector procurement framework to be successful.
This was the opinion voiced by a number of speakers at yesterday’s Think G-Cloud event in central London.
Tim Wright, of Isotate Consulting and former CIO at the Department of Education, said: “From the experience that I had [at the DfE] ... one of the frustrating things was [we] couldn’t find the suppliers, [even though they] were out there providing services that [we] were trying to procure.
“Suppliers [need to be] really clear and concise about the services that they provide so that they can be found.”
Peter Middleton of the G-Cloud team added that it is not just what services they are offering that vendors need to be clear on, but pricing too.
“It is clearly set out in the framework agreement when you come in as a supplier to the framework, you need to sign up to the process [of commodity pricing] and there is no negotiation.
“[Make] the prices as transparent as possible based on the commodity model if you can ... [because] buyers like to know what they will buy up front.”
Additionally, public sector bodies should specify what they need, not what they think the solution is.
“When you are trying to buy something, try to specify your desired outcome, not what you think the solution should look like,” said Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of G-Cloud supplier and hosting provider Memset.
“That is probably the best way to help improve your value and buy from SMEs.”
