G-Cloud 9 Framework extended into 2019

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and Government Digital Service (GDS) have decided to extend G-Cloud 9 for an additional 12 months, taking its expiry date up to 21 May 2019.The CCS said in the announcement that it needs more time to develop the Digital Marketplace, making it more scalable and appropriate for users before expiring this version of the G-Cloud.It wants to make sure it can improve the customer and supplier framework to make it more useful for both parties. The CCS also said it wants to work more closely with the GDS to improve the procurement process for users, following on from feedback it received from both suppliers and customers."Feedback has told us that you don’t just want the agreements refreshed 'as is," the CCS said in a statement. "Rather than looking at each agreement individually, we are introducing a more holistic approach to common technology goods and services."We have taken your feedback very seriously, and we are developing a roadmap to improve the end-to-end buyer and supplier journey, as well as the broad needs of CCS from a policy, strategic category, sourcing and operations perspective."The CCS and GDS will now focus on making the platform more scalable, introducing flexible contracting model options, improving categorisation for tech services and improving the end-to-end journey for all parties. The two organisations will also make it faster for agreements to be finalised and the agreements themselves will become more flexible across services, pricing and terms.The updated roadmap also means DOS 2 will expire on or before 27 January 2019 and Cyber 2 will expire on or before 28 February 2019.