DOS to date

Sales through DOS have grown year on year since its inception. Currently in its third iteration, and approaching its fourth, how has it got to where it is now?

Digital Outcomes and Specialists 4 (DOS4) opens for applications in July. While we wait – we’ve taken a look at how it has fared for SMEs since its launch and where it looks like it’s heading.

A bit of history

Originally opening as Digital Services in 2014 and running for two iterations, the first version of DOS as we know it entered the scene in 2016. Making up a large part of the Digital Marketplace, along with G-Cloud, DOS has since had over £1bn of sales go through it!!

As our Strategic Adviser Lindsay Smith discussed in his review of the Digital Marketplace for 2018-2019, the DM has grown a crazy 46% over the over the previous year. This shows a big willingness from the public sector to use frameworks like DOS to procure their services.

The most staggering fact, however, is that where G-Cloud spend has increased 9% year-on-year, DOS spend has increased 128%! We can probably assume that suppliers are relocating to the more appropriate contract for their services.

In fact, DOS and G-Cloud sales this financial year combined to a whopping £2bn.

SMEs and the DOS framework

Out of all of the sales going through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework, 34% of them have been with SMEs so far (by value). And, whilst this already meets the government’s pledge for £1 in every £3 going to SMEs, this number is rising year on year. As a comparison, the first iteration of DOS only had 29% of sales awarded to SMEs.

It’s also worth noting that SMEs had an 81% share of sales by volume by December 2018 – which had risen from 78% in July 2017. Showing that although the majority of big contracts might be going to the larger companies and suppliers, there is still a lot of business going to SMEs!

Digital Outcomes and Specialists keeps on rising!

During the first iteration of the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework, £285m of sales took place. This amount more than doubled for DOS2, with the total that year rising to £739m. That’s a huge difference in uptake and shows that the public sector is using the framework more and more to find the solutions to their problems. And, while DOS3 is still currently ongoing, at least £386m has gone through the framework so far – and it’s expected to keep going up until it closes in September.

The rise of DOS is further shown by the amount of suppliers realising its potential value. With DOS2, only 935 suppliers were on the framework whilst for DOS3 those numbers rose to 2953 – 94% of which are SMEs. Despite this meaning that the framework is now more competitive, the stats show that more and more companies are getting listed and making the sales happen.

Alongside G-Cloud, DOS has proven to be one of the most successful routes to market for companies looking to sell to the public sector. It’s rise over the last two iterations has been impressive and it’s looking like it’s set to continue to thrive. It will be interesting to see how much business goes through DOS3 before it bows out, in turn, making way for DOS4.