What buyers are procuring on DOS3

We delve into the DOS sales data and take a look at what public sector organisations are spending their cash on and, importantly, what departments are doing business.

With DOS4 on the horizon and due to go-live this autumn, it’s interesting to look at how much is being currently spent through DOS3 and who the main buyers are. Here is our breakdown of some of the big spenders and sellers through the framework.

Who are the buyers?

The sector spending the most on Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 is Central Government, by a long way. This doesn’t mean that others aren’t buying, but the uptake on the current iteration has been a bit slower for other departments throughout the public sector.

When we break down each sector by how much they’ve spent since DOS3 went live, you can really see the difference:

• Central Gov – £394.43m
• Police – £11.71m
• Local Gov – £6.23m
• Health – £5.55m
• Education – £3.80m

But why?

We’ve talked before about how Central Gov departments tend to use frameworks like DOS and G-Cloud a lot more regularly then other public sector bodies. They seem to have their hand on the framework pulse a little more than other government organisations.

Are buyers picking SMEs?

Although larger companies have generated a grand total of £297.51m to date – 67% of all sales on DOS3 – SME’s have also generated a significant percentage of spend! Smaller companies have got their hands on a generous £142.24m (32%) so far.

What are public sector organisations buying?

A quick look over the DOS spend data shows that there is lots of business going through DOS3 lately. The Home Office are the big spenders, procuring over £111.9m worth of services so far. A lot of this money went to data-sharing and data platform outcomes. They are also big fans of SMEs, since October 2018 when DOS3 went live, 29% of the services and solutions they procured were from SMEs.

Another big player is NHS Digital, who despite having their own frameworks and individual procurement routes, are still doing serious business through DOS. On the third iteration they’ve spent a total of £32.46m on both outcomes and specialists. Unsurprisingly a portion of this spend has been on new patient care solutions and platforms for data sharing.

The Ministry of Justice have spent the third highest amount on DOS3 so far. A whopping 55% of their business through the framework has gone to smaller companies too, significantly more than other departments!

When you’re listing on DOS, you’ve got to get to know who is spending the cash and with who. Looking at the sales data can provide the knowledge you need to make sure you’re getting the most out of the framework. And most importantly, once you know who the main buyers are – and what your competitors are doing – you’ll know who to target and where to focus your efforts.