Take a look at the range of services Free Rein has in the CloudStore here.
G-Cloud procurement
The G-Cloud procurement initiative is a series of OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) tenders that selects preferred suppliers to then offer services directly to all central government departments, local authorities and public sector organisations without them being required to run a full tender process. They now just pop into the CloudStore and can build a long or short list of suppliers for key services, compare them as you would do on an electronics store website and then invite the supplier to quote and pitch.
Encouraging SMEs
At present, there are four categories of services: Infrastructure, Software, Platform and Specialist Services. Details of the process and how to buy can be found here. The driver behind this is the Government Digital Service team (GDS, part of the Cabinet Office), who are the architects of the new award winning Gov.uk website and are also pressing for more contracts to be awarded to SMEs. In fact, they are shifting the percentage of contracts awarded to small and medium sized enterprises up from 7% to a target of 25% in the next few years. The savings they are already realising are significant.
Although the G-Cloud application process is quite extensive and complex it is being refined all the time. Many SMEs will have found it quite time consuming but good news is on the way. When this current round is up for review, in about 12-15 months, the new G-Cloud iv will be more SME friendly.
Business Events Finder
Free Rein was encouraged to apply for the G-Cloud iii tender following delivery of the Business Events Finder platform, which migrated from BIS to GDS late last year. Free Rein now also provides the user support and content moderation for the service, which is set to grow later in 2013. You can read more about the Events Finder project here. If you run B2B events you should consider signing up for the free service.
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