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Cabinet Office cheers on SMEs in Digital Marketplace

28/08/18

Mark Say Managing Editor

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The Cabinet Office has highlighted the position of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the latest round of sales data for the Digital Marketplace.

It has pointed out that the newly published figures, which apply to sales up to the end of July, show that smaller firms are continuing to account for almost half the value of business in the G-Cloud.

Since its launch in 2014, SMEs have accounted for 46% of the £3.53 billion in sales and for 69% of the volume. While the figures are marginally below those from the report for sales to the end of March – which were 48% and 70% respectively – Minister for Implementation Oliver Dowden expressed his satisfaction with the situation.

“This is excellent news,” he said. “It's great to see small business taking full advantage of the Digital Marketplace to help drive innovation in the public sector.

“The Digital Marketplace is enabling small businesses to work in partnership with the public sector to drive the UK’s digital transformation. Small businesses are the backbone of the British economy and this government is committed to help them prosper.”

SMEs have also accounted for significant shares of the other two procurement frameworks within the Digital Marketplace. They took 35% of the £509 million of business in the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework up to the end of July, along with 83% of the volume.

In the smaller Digital Services category they accounted for 48% of the £180 million of business, along with 61% of the volume.

Central government has continued to account for the lion’s share of the business in all three categories: 82% of the value for G-Cloud, 91% for Digital Outcomes and Specialists and 88% for Digital Services.

The Cabinet Office said the latest version of G-Cloud has 3,505 suppliers signed up - over 90% of them SMEs. Digital Outcomes and Specialists has 2,018 suppliers, with 94% of them SMEs.

Speaking to UKAuthority in June, the Digital Marketplace’s director Warren Smith said there were plans to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to boost take-up of the frameworks by the wider public sector.

Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0

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