We’ve been working with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and the Government Legal Department (GLD) to find an efficient, legally compliant way for G-Cloud suppliers to update their services. At the moment, if G-Cloud 6 (G6) and G-Cloud 7 (G7) suppliers want to make non-material changes, they email the support team and wait for the changes to be published on their behalf.
To understand which parts of their services suppliers need to update and how they’d like to update them, we’ve been testing prototypes in our fortnightly user research sessions. As a result of this user feedback, we plan to add the following features to the Digital Marketplace this year. As always, we expect to iterate as we learn how suppliers use them.
We’ve listed the features below in the order we expect to release them.
Removing services
Without our help, suppliers will be able to remove G-Cloud services that they’re no longer able to provide. They’ll be able to access this feature from the service page within their Digital Marketplace account.
Once a supplier has removed the service, it won’t come up in Digital Marketplace search results anymore. Buyers who enter into a call-off contract for a service that is later removed may need reassurance that their contract remains valid. For this reason, the URL of the service will remain public and there will be a banner on the page stating the date when the service became unavailable.
To reinstate a service that has been removed, suppliers should email enquiries@digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk with the details.
Publishing PDF updates more quickly
When they apply, suppliers write descriptions and pricing documents for each service they can provide. If a supplier’s application is successful, these documents are available as PDF files in the Digital Marketplace. Any changes to either of these things need to be approved by the CCS assurance team before we publish the new PDF file. We’re looking at ways to speed up this process.
Editing service descriptions
At the moment, suppliers can email the helpdesk if they want to make non-material changes to their service information. This includes their service names and descriptions. However, we hope to release a new feature that will allow suppliers to submit their changes for CCS approval via their Digital Marketplace account.
The CCS assurance team will aim to approve all non-material service updates within 5 working days and make them live. If they feel that further detail is needed before they can approve any changes, they’ll email the supplier. There will be full audit trails.
Adding more possible answers to security questions
During the G7 application period, several suppliers asked clarification questions about the predetermined answers we’d given for the following security areas:
- data protection between user device and service
- separation between consumers: cloud deployment model
Some suppliers found that the options we’d given didn’t cover their situation. In cases like this, we advised them to use the service description to accurately describe their service and add extra detail on security. We’ll be reviewing the predetermined answers soon and we’ll let suppliers know when they can update their answers for their G6 and G7 services through their Digital Marketplace account.
Updating security assertions
As stated in the G6 and G7 Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents, suppliers are responsible for maintaining accurate security assertions for each of their services. At the moment, suppliers must contact the Digital Marketplace support team with any changes they need to make. We hope to introduce a way for suppliers to update their security details in their Digital Marketplace account and submit it to CCS for approval. When the updates are approved, we’ll make the changes live.
Telling suppliers about new features
Sign up to the blog to stay up to date with new features on the Digital Marketplace.
1 comment
Comment by Eamonn McGirr posted on
when do you expect to release the ability to edit service descriptions?