G-Cloud 14 to G-Cloud 15 – What is changing?

James Berry talks through the change from G-Cloud 14 to 15 - what does it mean for the CCS, and what does it mean for suppliers?

Crown Commercial Service (“CCS”) is currently procuring G-Cloud 15 to replace G-Cloud 14.

The tender submission date for suppliers is 30 January 2026 and following what will no doubt be a marathon evaluation exercise, the Framework is to be awarded and commence on the 17 September 2026.

This will be the first iteration of G-Cloud procured under the Procurement Act 2023 (“PA 2023”).

As the largest framework of its kind in the public sector – G-Cloud spend for FY24/25 was £2.9 billion – suppliers and contracting authorities will be keen to start using the new framework as soon possible. We look at some of the key details of the new framework.

G-Cloud 15’s Open Framework

G-Cloud 15 will be an Open Framework within the meaning of section 49 of the PA 2023 (“a scheme of frameworks that provides for the award of successive frameworks on substantially the same terms”).

The Open Framework will be for four years in total with three frameworks awarded for two terms of 18 months and one term of 12 months before the Open Framework ends.

Successful suppliers to the first framework will become existing suppliers for the second framework or may re-submit their tender when the next framework is retendered.

Services and Call-Off Contract length

There will now be five lots (compared to G-Cloud 14 which had four lots) and contracting authorities will be able to award longer duration call-off contracts (depending on the lot):

Call-off procedure

Contracting Authorities will now be able to procure both with and without competition (where previously Lots 1, 2 and 3 on G-Cloud 14 would be procured following a direct award procedure only).

Security

There is greater emphasis on security as suppliers on Lots 2a, 2b and 3 must be validated with Cyber Essentials certification and those on Lot 1 and 1b must be validated with Cyber Essentials Plus.

Contract structure

This is possibly the biggest change that contracting authorities will have to get used to.

Out goes the old bespoke G-Cloud terms and conditions and in comes a modular contract based on the Public Sector Contract[2] (the CCS standard template for framework contracts for goods and services).

Contracting authorities will need to familarise themselves with the Framework, Core Terms, Joint Schedules and Call-Off Schedules and deciding which documents they will use to put together their Call-Off Contract. The Public Sector Contract is now fully compliant with PA 2023.

Of particular interest to contracting authorities will be the following schedules:

• Call-Off Schedule 1 (Intellectual Property Rights) – This mandatory schedule alone accounts for 72 pages of the contract albeit not all of that page count will make it into a call-off contract because this reflect four different ownership and licensing options to choose from;
  • IPR Option A1: Buyer owns all New IPR with limited Supplier rights to all New IPR in order to deliver this Contract;
  • IPR Option A2: Buyer ownership of all New IPR with non-exclusive Supplier rights;
  • IPR Option A3: Supplier ownership of all New IPR with Buyer rights for the current contract only;
  • IPR Option A4: Supplier ownership of New IPR with Buyer rights for the current contract and broader public sector functions.

This approach to IPR is a significant departure from the G Cloud 14 IP position and anything other than IPR Option A3 may be unpalatable to SaaS suppliers.

• Call-Off Schedule 9 (Security) – Not a mandatory schedule, but if required then there are five separate options to choose from;
  • Short Form
  • Consultancy
  • Development
  • Supplier-led assurance
  • Buyer-led assurance
• Call-Off Schedule 12 (Clustering) – Contracting Authorities may overlook this schedule but it is important for those who are procuring not just for themselves, but their local authority trading companies or other third parties. This schedule enables those parties to utilise the Call-Off Contract of the ‘parent’.
• Call-Off Schedule 13 (Implementation Plan and Testing) – Not a mandatory schedule but this provides a welcome enhancement of the limited implementation terms that were present in G-Cloud 14.
• Call-Off Schedule 14 (Performance Levels) – Not a mandatory schedule but this too provide welcome certainty in drafting where it comes to performance monitoring.

Many commentators viewed the new Open Framework under PA 2023 as particularly suited for the G-Cloud framework, and G-Cloud 15 show those commentators to be right.

Suppliers will certainly be happy to see that there will be regular windows where they can either join the framework or re-tender to improve their offering on the framework.

Suppliers and Contracting Authorities alike will be grateful for the long-term stability in terms of the document suite that they will need to be familiar with.

Contracting Authorities will certainly be pleased to see the extended range of services that they will be able to purchase through G-Cloud 15, and many will be further encouraged by the longer duration call-off contracts that can be awarded, compared with the four year limitation on G-Cloud 14, which often put off those who wanted longer term arrangements.

We also expect that Contracting Authorities will be happy with the more robust security obligations which align with the governments direction of travel for more digitalisation of public services, and the comfort that that they can have from having more certain contractual provisions around issues such as service implementation and on-going service performance monitoring (which will help with new KPI requirements under the PA 2023).

Where we think Contracting Authorities are likely to have concerns is regarding the complexity of the framework suite of documents, especially when compared to the simplicity of the G Cloud order form the market has been used to over the course of 14 frameworks.

The Public Sector Contract is lengthy (there are more than 50 separate documents that could form the call-off contract) and there will need to be careful consideration and formulation of the call-off contract to ensure that they are suitable and appropriate for the requirements.

If you would like to know more, or would like support with your IT procurement, then please do get in touch with us.

[1] G-Cloud 15: tender documents – CCS

[2] The Public Sector Contract – GOV.UK