Suppliers will be able to apply to offer their services through G-Cloud 8 (G8) in mid May and we expect that G8 services will be available to buy on the Digital Marketplace in August.
To give interested suppliers a chance to plan their applications, we’re sharing the provisional timetable of G8 dates now. These dates may change slightly.
The timetable
| Date | Activity |
| 17.5.16 | G-Cloud 8 is open for applications |
| 17.5.16 | Clarification period starts |
| 7.6.16 | Clarification period closes at 5pm (BST) |
| 14.6.16 | 5pm (BST) deadline for publishing answers to supplier questions |
| 21.6.16 | 5pm (BST) application deadline |
| 19.7.16 | Suppliers are told the result of their application ('intention to award') |
| 20.7.16 | 10 day standstill period begins |
| 29.7.16 | 10 day standstill period ends 11.59pm (BST) |
| 1.8.16 | We expect G8 services to be available in the Digital Marketplace |
The G8 application process
Although you won’t be able to start your application online until the framework is open in mid May, you can create a Digital Marketplace account now. We’ll let everyone with an account know when they can start their application.
User feedback told us that the G-Cloud 7 (G7) application process was simpler and easier than the one we used for G-Cloud 6 (G6). With this in mind, the way suppliers apply to G8 will be the same as for G7. Suppliers will:
- apply through a single system
- give information about their services
- make a supplier declaration
- ask questions through their Digital Marketplace account
- be able to see all supplier questions as well an answer from an expert in the relevant subject area
You can read more about the application process in the G-Cloud suppliers’ guide.
4 comments
Comment by John posted on
Hello - are we going to be able to copy an existing service from g-cloud 6 to g-cloud 8 and then edit it to update it? That would save everyone a lot of time re-uploading service definitions that may not have changed.
Comment by Ben Curthoys posted on
Will version 8 still have the ridiculous requirement to manually file a return every month showing sales or lack therefore? Because that - coming on top of the hateful user interface and the thousand other irritations I have blocked from my memory for the sake of my sanity - is the thing that pushes me over the edge into thinking it's just not worth being part of.
Comment by Huw Sayer posted on
What the heck is G Cloud 8?
Is this separate to the Digital Marketplace or some additional bit of bureaucracy for the micro-business to waste valuable time on? I thought this Digital Marketplace was meant to make it easier for micro-businesses to bid for government contracts - but if all our time is going to be taken up with admin and figuring out your jargon then there is no hope.
So for those of us (poor souls) who have signed up to Digital Markeplace in the last six months - and have no idea what G Clouds 1-7 were or how they worked - please explain in simple terms what G Cloud 8 is and how it fits with our existing Digital Marketplace account.
If it is in addition to the the DM - why? Why do we need to set up multiple accounts (DM, MISO and G Cloud) to bid for small contracts (which is all that micro-businesses will be bidding for -we know our limitations)?
Have any of you ever worked in the real world of micro-businesses (the world inhabited by nearly 70% of businesses)? Do any of you have any idea how much admin work we have to do on top of actually serving our clients? Do you realise that we don't have hoards of secretaries running around making sure all this sort of stuff is dealt with?
If you really want micro and SMEs to work with you, please make this whole process easier and quicker to understand and use - and kill the jargon.
Kind regards
Huw
Comment by Mark Philip posted on
Hi, is G-Cloud 8 opening today? Thanks!