The two Digital Marketplace docs suppliers should know inside and out

In order to successfully sell to the public sector, there are two documents on the Digital Marketplace suppliers should get to know...

These are the Digital Marketplace buyers’ guide and Digital Marketplace suppliers’ guide. Both documents begin by giving an overview of what the Digital Marketplace is, before going into the specifics of how to buy and sell tech. Here are the basics of both, and why they’re so important…

Buyers’ Guide

Firstly, as a buyer it is crucial to know exactly where to go for a specific tech service; be it Cloud services (G-Cloud), Digital specialist services (DOS), or Datacentre hosting services (Crown Hosting Data Centres). The buyers’ guide details what each framework is and which services they list. From this, public sector organisations can work out where they need to list or search for their required services. Due to the Government’s ‘Cloud First’ approach to procurement, buyers are required to consider cloud solutions as a priority, or justify why they are not using Cloud solutions.

The guide then goes on to advise the buyer on the preparation of their requirements. They are advised to consider the funds they have available to buy the service, the technical and procurement requirements of the project, and the selection criteria on which their choice will be based.

Once the buyer deciphers whether G-Cloud, DOS or Crown Hosting is the most appropriate for their requirement, they can go on to read the buyers’ guides available for that specific framework, before officially beginning the procurement process.

Why do I need to know?

As a supplier it is crucial for you to understand the buyers’ perspective, in order to know how they go about procuring services. Here at Advice Cloud we have built our expertise by taking the position of the buyer, and we cannot emphasise enough how important this is.

For example, if the buyer is considering their selection criteria on which their choice of service will be based, as a supplier it will benefit you massively to consider how your services are able to meet this criterion, and the way in which the language in your bid will reflect this. For more tips on this take a look at our blog, ‘Is your G-Cloud listing stopping you from selling?’.

It is also worthwhile being aware of the Cloud First policy, in order to develop your understanding of where buyers are seeking services.

In short, to sell to the public sector, you need to know what buyers are looking for, where they are seeking it, and how they intend to procure it. Easy.

Suppliers’ Guide

Parallel to the buyers’ guide, the suppliers’ guide details the available frameworks for services to be listed on. You may notice that the Crown Hosting Data Centres framework is not listed here, and in short, this framework acts as a supplement to G-Cloud, providing physical datacentre space by a supplier called Crown Hosting Data Centres Limited. So, good news – you only need to get your head around G-Cloud and DOS!

Once you decide whether G-Cloud or DOS (or both) are suitable to your service, we recommend reading the specific suppliers’ guide for that framework. However, the generic suppliers’ guide is an essential place to start, in order to direct you towards the correct framework(s). For a digestible comparison of the two, check out our infographic: G-Cloud vs. DOS framework.

The suppliers’ guide is updated regularly, detailing when G-Cloud and DOS will be open for applications. Keep an eye on this document in 2019 for information on when the next framework iterations will be available, or alternatively sign up for our framework alert.

Why do I need to know?

This one’s a bit more self-explanatory. Basically, if you don’t know the details of where and how to sell to the public sector, you aren’t going to have much success. Use the suppliers’ guide to work out what you are able to sell to the public sector, and where and how to list your services.

That’s it – get reading!