The agency responsible for managing some of the UK’s largest technology frameworks is getting a facelift.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will from 1 April 2026 unite with the Cabinet Office’s central commercial teams and become the ‘Government Commercial Agency’ (GCA).
In CCS’ year to 31 March 2025, some £33bn of public sector direct spend was channelled through its commercial agreements.
It manages the giant Technology Products & Associated Services 2 (TePAS 2) framework, as well as Technology Services 3 and G-Cloud.
The new unified agency will “drive even greater value for the nation and support the government’s commitment to better public services”, according to this announcement.
“Driving the greatest benefit for the British public”
In a statement sent to IT Channel Oxygen, the Cabinet Office claimed the move will enable it to squeeze more savings out of the £400m of goods and services it procures annually.
“By creating a single agency of procurement specialists overseen by Ministers, we will ensure government contracts always drive the greatest benefit for the British public,” a Cabinet Office spokesperson stated.
Under the new setup, ministers will have direct oversight of procurement activity and can hold commercial teams to account effectively, it pointed out.
One public sector tech source we spoke to, who wished to remain anonymous, said the move “smells like tinkering with irrelevant things”, however.
“How much time and effort will be wasted with internal jockeying for positions, rebranding and restructuring rather than getting on and doing their actual jobs?” they asked.
The GCA will be led by Sam Ulyatt, who succeeded Simon Tse as CCS CEO in July 2024, and will be overseen by Government Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Forzani.
The amount of spend channeled through CCS has consistently risen over the last five years, from £18.1bn in fiscal 2020-21 to £33bn in 2024-25, according to its annual report.
In that five-year period, CCS claims its marketshare has risen from 16% to 26%.
