3.23 For ICT spending, the Cabinet Office's Government Digital Services (GDS), working with the CCS, identified specific benefits to be gained by working with SMEs and developed an approach to make it easier for SMEs involved in technology to do business with government. Its 2011 ICT strategy committed to spending more with SMEs to benefit from the innovative approaches they could offer.25
3.24 A key change in the government's approach to ICT procurement was the introduction of G-Cloud in 2012, a digital purchasing platform through which the public sector can procure cloud-based services. G-Cloud is intended to make it easier for SMEs to work with the government, by allowing departments to purchase from any G-Cloud provider rather than tying them into long-term contracts with single suppliers. In December 2015, GDS estimated that 51% of the government's spending through G-Cloud, since its launch, was with SMEs. It estimates that over 80% of suppliers on the framework are SMEs.
3.25 The GDS's strategy also requires departments to:
• stop using contracts worth over £100 million for IT programmes and reduce the length and size of contracts to make them more accessible for SMEs; and
• consider cloud options first in any IT procurement, encouraging the use of G-Cloud and the government's Digital Marketplace, both of which include SMEs.26
In reporting progress against the 25% aspiration in 2013, ICT was the category of spending mentioned most frequently by departments, reflecting the government's strategic focus in this area.27
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25 Cabinet Office, Government ICT Strategy, March 2011.
26 The Digital Marketplace is an online catalogue of ICT services for the UK public sector, available at: www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk.
27 Cabinet Office, Making Government business more accessible to SMEs Two Years On, August 2013.