SCC hails G-Cloud as a new era in public IT Procurement

24 Jan 2012

 SCC has praised the establishment of the G-Cloud purchasing framework as the beginning of a new era in government IT procurement.

As a contributor to the industry discussions that formed the basis of the G-Cloud proposal, Europe’s largest technology solutions provider has been working on its own bid for a place on a framework designed to allow public sector organisations to purchase cloud based services on demand. The first round of applications closed on the 19th December 2011, yet while the final results will not be announced until early 2012, the company believes the new framework could help to put an end to the age of overpriced and under-performing government IT projects.

“Rightly or wrongly, public sector IT procurement has been characterised by projects that go over budget, miss their deadlines and fail to provide the functionality they were commissioned to deliver. G-Cloud is a concerted effort to bring an end to that situation and, like many across the industry, we’re delighted to be enabling the kind of technology initiatives that will help the government deliver services faster, better and cheaper,” said SCC’s Director of Public Sector Business Tracy Westall.

“With hundreds of companies ranging from multinational corporations to SMEs competing to offer services via a framework should enable organisations to make purchasing decisions quickly and easily.”

More than 500 companies have expressed interest in offering competing services on G-Cloud, with the final selection process expected to begin in spring 2012. Use of the service by public organisations and departments will be mandatory, with likely purchases ranging from Enterprise-scale systems provision contracts to standard Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings such as email, electronic documents and records management.

SCC notes that whereas traditionally, many public organisations have been bound into long term IT contracts by punitive penalties for seeking to end even failed projects, the new framework should put an end to such situations. Services will be offered on contracts as short as 30 days, enabling public sector organisations to buy into services when they need them and step away when they don’t.

In line with its support of the new system SCC has bid for its own place on the framework, offering a variety of optimised cloud solutions from its custom built UK data centre. The company has also continued its track record of partnering with SME players within the sector, providing the technical capacity and credibility that underpins a number of smaller provider’s offerings from a facility awarded the Green Grid Award for Sustainability 2011 at the Data Centres in Europe Awards.

SCC’s Chief Technical Officer Rhys Sharp added: “In many ways G-Cloud signals a levelling of the playing field, enabling public sector organisations to respond to a dynamic working environment as quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively as their counterparts in the private sector have always been able to. As a company we’re delighted that the government has launched us on a journey that should deliver far greater value in return for the UK’s stretched technology budget.

“From an economic perspective, the new framework is great news. It will enable hundreds of British businesses to offer their services to a customer base that has until now been out of reach, providing genuine potential for growth and striking a particularly positive note for the future.”

Sharp will be presenting at Cloud Expo Europe 2012 on the 25th January 2012 at the National Hall, Olympia in London. The seminar ‘Optimise Cloud’ – A better way to deliver IT services commences at 10.55am on Wednesday 25th January and SCC will be on stand 569.