G-Cloud 4 (G4), the fourth version of the Government's cloud procurement framework, has gone live.
According to the Cabinet Office, which oversees the project an even greater number of SMBs have made it onto the supplier list and in excess of 1,000 suppliers are listed in total.
G-Cloud is a simpler, faster and cheaper way for the public sector to buy digital services.
Among those to have been included are unified communications and cloud IT provider Outsourcery, IaaS provider Memset, iomart Group and Skyscape Cloud Services.
G4 attracted 999 submissions a new record for the framework 573 of which were reapplications and 426 were totally new to the project. The number of applications for the previous procurement round was 700.
The total number of services now available through CloudStore the procurement portal aspect of G-Cloud with incorporates all 1,186 suppliers from G4 and its still-active predecessor Giii now stands at 13,000.
According to the Cabinet Office, of the 1,186 listed suppliers, 84 per cent are SMBs and of the total sales through the framework, the value of which now exceeds 50 million, 58 per cent of them have gone to SMBs.
"Our reforms to Government technology are designed to ensure the best possible service for users at the lowest cost for taxpayers. To make this possible we need a truly competitive marketplace," said Francis Maud, the minister for the Cabinet Office.
"G-Cloud is a simpler, faster and cheaper way for the public sector to buy digital services. It allows companies of all sizes to benefit from our digital by default approach to government. I'm delighted that so many SMEs have won representation in this new iteration. We will continue to embed our Cloud First principle in government and recommend it across the wider public sector."
G-Cloud's director, Tony Singleton, added: "We are constantly working to improve G-Cloud and the CloudStore, making it more straightforward and less expensive for suppliers wanting to join the marketplace and for public sector customers to purchase the technology they need.
"For G4, we have fed in valuable intelligence and opinions from buyers and suppliers. But the job of lowering barriers to participation and making the process as easy and open as possible goes on."
