If you’ve just been through the G-Cloud 15 application process, the last thing you probably want to hear is that there’s another framework to think about. Places haven’t been awarded yet, and plenty of suppliers are still waiting through the evaluation stage.
But if you sell software to the public sector, the Public Sector Software Solutions framework (PSSS, RM6396) is worth getting your head around sooner rather than later. This new framework is being designed to become the primary procurement route for software across the entire UK public sector.
Here’s how it sits alongside G-Cloud, and why the two aren’t as interchangeable as they might first appear.
G-Cloud: what it does well
G-Cloud has been one of the most accessible routes into the public sector market for software suppliers since it launched in 2012. The catalogue model is genuinely useful: buyers search for what they need, find your listing, and can make a direct award without running a full tender. For cloud-based software, it’s a strong and well-established channel.
But that scope is also its limit. G-Cloud covers cloud-based software and services, and it’s very much what you see is what you get. If a buyer needs on-premise or hybrid deployment, a more bespoke contract arrangement, or wants to procure software as part of a larger end-to-end project, G-Cloud isn’t the route they’ll use.
What PSSS covers that G-Cloud doesn’t
Public Sector Software Solutions (PSSS, RM6396) is a new GCA framework in development, valued at up to £12 billion over four years. It’s designed to consolidate three existing agreements, Back Office Software 2 (RM6285), Vertical Application Solutions (RM6259), and Big Data & Analytics (RM6195), into a single, flexible route to market.
The scope is significantly broader than G-Cloud. PSSS covers software across all deployment models: cloud, on-premise, and hybrid. It also extends into integration, migration, data and testing, and end-to-end projects.
PSSS also carries ISO requirements that G-Cloud doesn’t ask for. For buyers, that means PSSS gives them access to suppliers who’ve already met a higher minimum standard, which is worth knowing if you’re weighing up whether the extra effort of applying is worth it.
The six proposed lots cover enterprise software, data and AI, business applications, education and health, housing and planning, and blue light services. If your software serves any of those verticals specifically, PSSS has been designed with your buyers in mind.
There’s less time to prepare than you think
The PSSS ITT is expected between July and September 2026. This will signal the start of the supplier application window, and we’re expecting to see places awarded in Winter 2027.
But waiting for the ITT to drop before you start preparing is already too late. A strong framework application takes time: pulling together compliance documentation, achieving the right certifications, sharpening your service descriptions, and making sure your social value narrative is in good shape. Suppliers who leave that work until the window opens are always on the back foot.
Ideally, you want to be six months ahead of the ITT. Three months is the absolute minimum to give yourself a realistic chance of putting in a competitive submission. Which means, given the ITT could open as early as July, the preparation window is already closing.
So do you need both?
For most software suppliers, yes.
G-Cloud gives you visibility in a searchable catalogue that buyers use regularly. PSSS, once it’s live, is set to be the dominant framework for software procurement across the public sector. They serve different buyer needs and different procurement scenarios, and being present on both means you’re not inadvertently locked out of a significant portion of the market. It also gives your buyers more procurement routes to reach you through, so you’re less likely to miss out on a tender simply because it ran through the framework you weren’t listed on, and you get more opportunities to compete overall.
If your software is purely cloud-delivered and doesn’t sit in any of the vertical categories PSSS covers, G-Cloud may genuinely be enough for now. But if you deliver on-premise or hybrid solutions, or your product serves health, education, housing or blue light buyers specifically, PSSS represents an opportunity that G-Cloud simply can’t replicate.
It’s also worth remembering that the work you put into your G-Cloud 15 application isn’t wasted effort. The compliance thinking, the service definitions, the pricing documentation: a lot of that groundwork feeds directly into a PSSS application too. The question is whether you give yourself enough time to build on it properly.
Thinking about your PSSS strategy?
The earlier you start, the stronger your position. Advice Cloud is supporting suppliers through the PSSS process from the earliest stages, including preparation well ahead of the ITT. If you’d like to talk through whether PSSS is the right next step for your business, get in touch with the team.
