The g-cloud is the government’s online portal designed to help public sector organisations engage with and procure services from small to medium sized businesses, often referred to as SMEs. The g-cloud incorporates a ‘digital marketplace’ which allows subscribing public sector organisations to search for services covered by the g-cloud frameworks and to publish projects or contracts in various formats such as pre-qualification questionnaires and formal tenders.
The platform supports the government’s top-down directive for public sector organisations to use smaller businesses more often for the delivery of IT projects. This policy actively supports the UK’s digital sector as opposed to endlessly commissioning IT giants such as IBM, Orcale or HP who are typically American owned. We are also aware, through our own work with HP Enterprise, that these global technology businesses are being encouraged to engage with UK based SMEs to partner up to deliver projects of scale.
bd2 has successfully applied and been accepted onto the framework as providers of digital services and outcomes. As approved suppliers we will be able to bid for any public sector projects which we can deliver from UI/UX design and consultancy to bespoke software development. We have a depth of experience in the public sector having been selected onto Wigan Council’s and Bolton Council’s Supplier Frameworks and delivering web-based projects for both of them. We’re currently on Wigan Council’s digital steering committee helping them to formulate aspects of their digital strategy.