The Digital Marketplace makes it simpler, clearer and faster for the public sector to buy what they need to build world-class services.
We need to ensure that public sector buyers are aware of the Digital Marketplace and the benefits it offers, and that we’re also consistently building on our pool of suppliers to help us deliver great public services.
One of the ways we engage our users and potential users is through regional events. Digital Marketplace events give us the opportunity to educate users, answer questions from buyers and suppliers and gather feedback. It also gives attendees the opportunity to meet the team.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) Digital Marketplace team and Crown Commercial Service (CCS) have been running joint events over the past few months. These particular ones were for buyers, though we have similar events planned for suppliers too.
The aim is to:
- raise awareness of the Digital Marketplace
- educate buyers on how to procure what they need, simply and quickly
- educate suppliers on how to sell to government
- give buyers and suppliers a chance to have their questions answered in an open discussion environment
Past buyer events
Our past three buyer events have been in Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool. Here’s what we covered:
- what is agile and how to work in an agile way (a presentation by Service Manager Caroline Mulligan and Delivery Manager Peter Kappus)
- the Digital Marketplace service, including G-Cloud and Digital Services frameworks
- a case study from a central or local government buyer talking about their experience while using the Digital Marketplace
- a question and answer session with Christopher Short (Head of Commissioning at Digital Marketplace) and Lucy Belsey (G-Cloud Category Manager at Crown Commercial Service)
Positive feedback
Of those who came to the Liverpool event, 85% rated the session as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ and 95% said they left feeling encouraged to use the Digital Marketplace or CCS frameworks.
What attendees said:
“The event helped me understand the context and flexibility better than I'd been able to interpret from the website. Being able to ask questions and get some clarification was also useful.”
“It was great to meet other users as well as Digital Marketplace and CCS team members.”
“Listening to the speakers helped me to understand the difference between G-Cloud and the Digital Services framework. The links to additional guidance that were provided in the presentation have proved most useful.”
Our next events
We’re planning to hold both buyer and supplier events in London, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester between 13 August and 3 September. Find more information on our events page.