Everything you need to know about G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace

Transcription

1 Everything you need to know about G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace A guide for public sector organisations

2 Contents What is the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace? Why use the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace? Who can buy from the Digital Marketplace? How to purchase services or solutions from the Digital Marketplace Evaluation of multiple shortlisted suppliers Which services does PDMS provide on the G-Cloud? About PDMS How to keep updated with G-Cloud changes Useful links

3 1 What is the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace? The Government Cloud ( G-Cloud ) is a programme to redefine the way the public sector procures and operates ICT an ongoing and iterative programme to adopt a cloud first approach using on-demand delivery models. The power of the Cloud has been highlighted by Martha Lane Fox UK Digital Champion in the Digital by Default Agenda. She has stated that a 30% shift in government service delivery contracts to digital channels has the potential to deliver gross annual savings of more than 1.3 billion, rising to 2.2 billion if 50% of contacts shifted delivering better services and value for money to citizens 1. The Digital Marketplace is the online marketplace for the G-Cloud, from which public sector bodies can review and buy services. It is effectively a virtual catalogue of over 16,000 services under four different lots or categories. These are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) or Specialist Cloud Services 2 (SCS). You can find many like-for-like services and view pricing and details straight away requesting bespoke details only when needed, saving time and money. Any public sector body can review services offered on the Digital Marketplace and it is refreshed every 6 months when both large and SME companies compete to be relisted. This ensures buyers have transparent access to the latest innovations, services and suppliers - all of which are assured by the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC). By exploiting innovations in cloud computing we will transform the public sector ICT estate into one that is agile, cost effective and environmentally sustainable 3 As of January 2015, there has been over 467m reported sales through the Digital Marketplace (which was previously known as the CloudStore) 77% of which were through Central Government and 23% through the wider public sector 4. 1 Digital by Default 2 How to use CloudStore 3 Government Cloud Strategy 4 Digital Marketplace

4 2 Why use the G-Cloud and the Digital Marketplace? With a greater need for technologically enabled public services, public sector spend on ICT has substantially increased over the last several decades. This has often resulted in costly infrastructure and legacy systems, and inflexible projects with outdated technologies and long contracts. With growing demands and the diversification of services, the public sector can now benefit from cloud services when they need them, rather than committing to complex and long-term solutions. With the G-Cloud approach using the Digital Marketplace, public sectors can now: Take advantage of new technologies and access the best ICT services and solutions available. Encourage dynamic, responsive procurement and save time on a traditional Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) or Invitation to Tender - the open procurement for each of the G-Cloud frameworks has already been done. Avoid long, expensive and inflexible contracts allowing buyers to change service providers easily, without lengthy procurement and implementation cycles. Achieve economies of scale with cross government projects using common commodity solutions to avoid duplication of services. Meet environmental and sustainability targets. Deliver ICT systems that are responsive to changing demands, policies and strategies delivering value for money and up to date solutions. Reduce costs through buying solutions as a service or based on usage, to meet your resource requirements. Save money on maintenance and physical storage. Easily compare and benchmark suppliers based on your desired characteristics and price with greater transparency. Access ready to use hybrid cloud solutions that are pre-assured for security, performance and service management. This new approach to buying services for Government ensures that best-fit solutions are selected, delivering value for money. Note: It is important to remember that using the G-Cloud you can still talk to all the suppliers you want they cannot change their offerings, but they can provide clarification for you.

5 3 Who can buy from the Digital Marketplace? There is a common misconception that only central government can purchase services from the Digital Marketplace, but this is not the case. All government departments, local authorities, not-for-profit organisations, police forces, devolved administrators, wider public sector bodies and even arm s length bodies are eligible to buy services on the Digital Marketplace. If you are uncertain of your eligibility, please consult this complete list of eligible public sector organisations. If you have not bought from the G-Cloud before you can reach out to similar public bodies that have, to see if they can help you. G-Cloud encourages buyers to learn from each other s experiences.

6 4 How to purchase from the Digital Marketplace Step 1: Requirements and approval Have an understanding of your user needs and requirements what is essential and what is desirable, plus approval to buy. Step 2: Search Undertake your search of suppliers on the Digital Marketplace using keywords from user needs and service requirements (IaaS, PaaS, Saas or SCS). This should generate a long list of suppliers that meet your high-level needs. Step 3: Filter Filter your search results, creating a shortlist of suppliers based on description information and additional documents (for example service definitions, pricing, terms and conditions). Step 4: Evaluate Evaluate your shortlist by testing and engaging with the selected suppliers, using trial services and interviews, or Requests for Information (RFI) and Invitations to Tender (ITT). If only one supplier meets your requirements, you may directly award them the contract. However, if not, you must assess your options to find the best value contract for either lowest cost or Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). For MEAT-based assessments there are specified award criteria details that you must answer (there is more on this in the next section). Step 5: Award Select your service, award and sign the call-off agreement to purchase. Step 6: Record savings Complete the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) savings form. Template documents for the recording of all stages of the process in an accountable audit trail format can be requested from Government Procurement Services at ICT_Services@gps.gsi.gov.uk. Contracts through the Digital Marketplace cannot be extended and can only last for up to 24 months this ensures that you are continually reviewing your needs and suppliers to ensure the best value for money. 5 Digital Marketplace Buyer s Guide

7 5 Evaluation of multiple shortlisted suppliers With more complex projects, during the evaluation stage of the buying process, supplier selection may not be obvious and evaluation on a lowest cost basis may not be appropriate. For these types of projects you should evaluate the shortlist using MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender), using the following criteria but selecting your own weighting and characteristics. Criteria number Direct award criteria 1 Whole life cost: cost effectiveness; price and running costs (remember to include on-boarding, exit, connectivity and support costs). 2 Technical merit and functional fit: coverage, network capacity and performance as specified in relevant service levels (remember to consider the integration or replacement of legacy systems). 3 After-sales service management: help desk, account management function and assurance of supply of a range of services. 4 Non-functional characteristics. Finally, you should carefully read the supplier Terms and Conditions, as these are unchangeable at the call-off stage. You should also be familiar with the Framework Agreement for that service, which is dependent on the version of G-Cloud the service is listed under. You can find out more about the G-Cloud buying process through the Government Buyers Guide 6. 6 Digital Marketplace Buyer s Guide

8 6 Which services does PDMS provide on the G-Cloud? PDMS is pleased to offer the following products and services on the G-Cloud, ideal for the public sector and aimed at providing efficiencies, reducing costs and improving security. As an early adopter of the G-Cloud, PDMS has been awarded supplier status on each bi-annual iteration of the platform since its launch in Software development PDMS has been working within the Cloud Environment for a number of years moving legacy systems to the Cloud. Having delivered a number of as a Service solutions we can deliver a complete end to end solution including integration of applications into cloud services and legacy systems. Our public sector software development clients include the Government Procurement Service, Centrica, Police National Legal Database, West Midlands Police and the NHS Commercial Medicines Unit. By making use of our software and development expertise, and working in partnership for successful outcomes, many of our clients have achieved recognition in prestigious industry nominations and awards. We are also a Microsoft Partner with a Gold competency in Application Development, specialising in secure, browser-based, enterprise-scale systems using Foundations TM, our tried and tested Application Development framework (based on Microsoft. Net) and suite of business components. Our approach to software delivery is supported by PRINCE2 and ISO certifications for quality, security and environmental management. We pride ourselves on being enterprise experts with the technical ability, business understanding and skills to professionally produce ios and Android applications, enterprise workforce solutions, online shop solutions, web and interface designs. Whatever your requirements, we will deliver the most suitable solution for you. Working in partnership for successful outcomes, many of our clients have achieved recognition in prestigious industry nominations and awards

9 Foundations TM If you are looking to move legacy systems into the Cloud, or are considering a new development, please talk to us about the savings to be made by working with PDMS and our Foundations TM platform. We are a Microsoft Partner with a Gold Competency in Application Development, and we deliver IT systems which enable you to run your businesses more efficiently by adapting to new challenges and opportunities. We also specialise in developing complex, high performance and flexible web-based systems quickly and to budget. This is achieved using a suite of industry-standard components developed using our secure and scalable Foundations TM platform, which is based on Microsoft.Net. Through a combination of Foundations TM and our proven system development processes, our low risk approach is preferable to traditional bespoke software development projects or heavily customised off the shelf packages. Our Foundations TM platform is used in a wide variety of public sector projects for clients including: the Government Procurement Service, NHS Pharmacy, West Midlands Police and the Police National Legal Database team. Applications built this way are also completely scalable at the database level or in the application tier, where two or more load balanced application servers can be configured to provide resilience, scalability, application upgrades and patching without the need for system downtime. This is particularly useful in an agile development where, at least initially, there will be regular changes and updates to the application. Foundations TM has been deployed in a wide range of environments ranging from internal applications with just a few users, to a nationwide police network with 200,000 users. In terms of data stored, existing PDMS applications range from 10s of Megabytes of data and thousands of records to 100 Gigabytes of data and millions of active records. Using Foundations TM we can provide your organisation with features such as workflow and process automation, integration with other cloud and legacy systems, custom authentication and multilingual support across multiple device types. We can also deliver a complete Hosting and Managed Service offering for all our Foundations TM software developments. Our low risk approach is preferable to traditional bespoke software development projects or heavily customised off the shelf packages.

10 Umbraco Umbraco is a leading open-source Content Management System (CMS) for customer facing websites utilising HTML5 and responsive designs. Built on the.net framework and endorsed by Microsoft, Umbraco offers the flexibility to create extensible and robust sites for small, medium and enterprise class websites. We are an official Umbraco Partner, offering a range of services to support rapid implementation of core functionality. Such features include events calendars, forums, photo galleries, forms, social media integration and syndication, multilingual capabilities, user levels, search engine optimisation as well as integration with other services and systems. We can provide a complete end-to-end service through G-Cloud to meet all of your website requirements, from design, development and implementation, through to migration, hosting, on-going support and enhancements. We have already delivered Umbraco-based websites for a range of clients including: the Red Ensign Group, West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and the Isle of Man Government. If you are about to embark on a new web development project or have an existing website you would like to transfer into an Umbraco CMS, please talk to us. Umbraco offers the flexibility to create extensible and robust sites for small, medium and enterprise class websites.

11 FREE 1-MONTH TRIAL DoxShare is a cloud-based document management facility that helps organisations and networks collaborate, improve accessibility, demonstrate compliance and control quality management. Using DoxShare you can quickly exchange electronic files with colleagues, clients and partners, in a way that is secure, controlled, auditable and accessible - wherever you are. This makes DoxShare an ideal solution for public sector organisations and local authorities. Features include access control, archiving, secure version control and audit trails, bulk uploads and downloads, powerful search facility, RSS feeds, notifications, regular back-ups for business continuity, and the ability to work offline or remotely via a web portal or internal mapped network drive. Potential uses include: Committee Records - improve efficiency by creating a single portal to manage all committee records including minutes, agendas, attendance records and reports. Human Resources and Training store key personnel information securely, distribute training course materials, lesson plans and presentations to staff or students. Legal Records - provide legal teams with remote, 24/7 access to specific case files, contracts and legal records. Client Documents - centralise all your client documentation from case notes through to financial or legal records. Quality Management - facilitate quality accreditations by storing all of your quality procedures and processes, and demonstrate effective change control. DoxShare is provided as a SaaS an on demand service with a monthly subscription fee. Based on your requirements, you can choose from an entry level bronze subscription through to silver and gold, which offers an unlimited number of users and branding options. Our packages include training options and on-going support including a fully serviced help desk. We can also offer enterprise partner packages with completely tailored services and can customise DoxShare, through the Specialist Cloud Services Lot, to meet any specific business requirements.

12 MARIS is our international ship registry solution to manage vessels and seafarers a complete online solution built as a modern, enterprise browser-based application. With 24/7 online and offline access to all of your data, reports and statistics, MARIS is your ultimate maritime solution, improving workflow and efficiency, whilst saving costs and helping you meet international IMO, PSC, STCW, ISO and MLC requirements. Features Registration: manages all vessel registration workflow and information. Surveys: manage surveys, audits, compliance, certificates, deficiencies and incident reports. Seafarers: manage applications, certificates, record books, STCW, Navigation/ Engineering Watch. Financial transactions: fees invoices, mortgages, reporting, payments. Reporting: comprehensive parametrised reports on key statistics, IMO audit information. Workflow: automatic notifications, task management and workflow, reminders, s. Document Management: document workflow, audit, compliance, certifications, storage, remote access. Print Management: print documents in multiple locations, print types. Online Services: target stakeholders for data input and workflow. Benefits Centralises all key registry data. Improves customer service e.g. registration turnaround times. Reduces data duplication and improves data accuracy. Reduces certificate errors. Improves overall productivity and reduces costs. Faster and more accurate reporting for e.g. IMO and STCW. Online and offline access including data synchronisation, data entered once. Comprehensive auditing throughout - access to audit information. System availability, complete managed service, business continuity and disaster recovery. Security both front and back office. MARIS is currently used by the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas Maritime Authority and the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

13 PaySolve Our PaySolve Payroll software system automates the whole process of online payroll administration by handling any combination of complex hourly, salaried and piece work rates, payroll calculations, payments, and deductions, making payroll processing quick and accurate. The system is fully modular and very flexible, so it can be tailored to your business systems and procedures, allowing for multiple users, numerous payrolls, automatic statutory updates and high security using permissions and password requirements. Specific features of PaySolve includes full historical data, data import and extraction, pay slip preview, costing module, recovery, and automatic control of excessive tax refunds and charity donations. PaySolve also integrates with other management and payment systems and is maintained to HMRC specifications, providing you with a complete payroll system provided on a software as a service basis. PaySolve is modular and flexible, so it can be tailored to your business systems and procedures

14 PDMS Employed enables you to quickly and cost effectively launch an online employability hub for your community. It is a ready-made portal to publish careers and employment information, news and events; and to connect recruiters, educators and training providers with individuals interested in job vacancies, apprenticeships, work placements, volunteering and training opportunities. The extensive capabilities of the platform includes a content management system, membership registration facility, preference and personal data storage, online search, intelligent online forms, CV building tools, social networking and messaging, opportunity notifications, self-interview videos and management information reporting. PDMS Employed is ideal for joining up initiatives and databases whilst maintaining a flexible business model for either revenue earning or not-for-profit organisations. PDMS Employed is ideal for joining up initiatives and databases whilst maintaining a flexible business model for either revenue earning or not-for-profit organisations

15 Hosting and managed services PDMS provides a high availability (uptime exceeding 99.9%) end-to-end Hosting and Managed Services provision, with full redundancy in critical systems and rapid deployment. We have the track record, expertise, infrastructure, systems, accreditations and partnerships to provide the systems we develop on a fully managed-service or software-as-a-service basis. Features of our Hosting and Managed Services include virtualisation providing high levels of resilience, certified and accredited secure infrastructure and facilities, 24/7/365 monitoring, geographically separated hosting facilities and multiple tiers of security between the application and internet.

16 7 About PDMS Your technology partner We have been providing software solutions that deliver tangible savings and improvements for private businesses and public sector organisations for over 21 years. During this time we have delivered hundreds of successful software engineering projects. With offices in the Isle of Man, London and Glasgow, we are large enough to deliver, but small enough to care. Our full lifecycle approach means that we can offer high levels of support to you, throughout each stage of your project. This is particularly important when developing mission critical line of business applications - where reliability, scalability and security are absolutely vital. This is why we aim to be a complete technology partner to you, from the outset of a project on the analysis and design phase, right through to development, deployment and ongoing support. To help us achieve this, we have developed other areas of our business to provide additional support services - including a dedicated web design and infrastructure team to enable us to host the systems we develop. The partnership aspect is important to us too, and we invest a lot of time and energy into getting to know you, understanding your requirements and the best way for us to work together to achieve a successful outcome. PDMS believe in quality assurance systems and continuous improvement to help us deliver too, which is why we currently hold the ISO 9001:2008 quality, ISO 27001:2013 security standards and the Environmental standard ISO 14001:2004. Our Track Record within the public sector speaks for itself.

17 8 Further information How can I keep updated with changes to the G-Cloud? A new G-Cloud framework is released every 6 months, with the new iterations lasting for 12 months. At the time of writing the current version is G-Cloud 6. New Impact Levels to replace Pan Government Accreditation s are also underway in a transition to the new G-Cloud Security approach. You can keep updated with the latest changed to the G-Cloud on the Digital Marketplace Blog. Useful links Guidance Moving from CloudStore to the Digital Marketplace Digital Marketplace Homepage Contact Us For more information about PDMS or to find out how we can meet your software or service needs as your technology partner, please our team at sales@pdms.com or telephone