We are today publishing a new policy paper calling for reform of the public sector tech procurement system to increase government spending on SMEs.

The paper follows months of engagement with our members and industry experts, who have shaped the paper and its recommendations.

The paper comes in response to the recent closure of the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace, which consistently stood alone in exceeding the government target of 33% procurement spend on SMEs and was closed by the Government without meaningful market engagement. Our members have criticised the replacement system as being markedly inferior, lacking in transparency and failing to promote open competition.

In addition to restoring the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace, the paper calls for wider reform of the public sector procurement system to end restrictive practices which harm competition and create barriers to entry for SMEs. The paper also recommends that government appoints a dedicated Technology SME Champion tasked with ensuring public sector procurement systems are built with tech SMEs at the forefront, as well as supporting them through all stages of the procurement process.

The 5 recommendations are summarised as follows:

1. Ensure all government cloud spending is transparent;
2. End restrictive practices which harm competition;
3. Appoint a dedicated Technology SME Champion within government;
4. Restore the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace;
5. Ensure all public sector procurement frameworks enable SMEs to compete fairly.

We believe that building a more transparent and competitive tech procurement system will save taxpayer money while ensuring government has access to the most innovative public sector solutions.

The paper’s recommendations have been endorsed by Stephen Allott, the first Crown Representative for Small and Medium Enterprise in the Cabinet Office (2011-2015) who developed the G-Cloud system.

In the paper’s foreword, Stephen Allott writes: “I strongly support the CCTA’s 5 recommendations which, if implemented, would restore G-Cloud to the system which made it an international success. The recommendations rightly emphasise the importance of competition and transparency in ensuring SMEs enjoy a level playing field in all areas of public sector technology procurement.”

We will be engaging further with industry and policymakers in the coming months to build support for our vision of an SME-friendly public sector tech procurement system.