The current confusion over when G-Cloud 15 will be put out to tender is “not a great look” for Crown Commercial Service (CCS), a public sector procurement expert has argued.
In a LinkedIn post, Advice Cloud CEO Chris Farthing said CCS’ market notifications regarding G-Cloud and other frameworks are “frankly all over the place”.
The public procurement agency last month announced it would extend G-Cloud 14 by six months “to facilitate the procurement of G-Cloud 15”, The Register reported.
It was originally set to run for 18 months until 28 April 2026.
Not all market notifications on when its successor, G-Cloud 15, will be advertised to suppliers tallies, Farthing spotted, however.
While a CCS Pipeline update issued around three weeks ago states the advert is expected in Spring 2026, a UK2 Premarket Engagement notice updated on 15 August puts the date at 23 October 2025, he noted.
“We’re as confused as they are”
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Farthing praised G-Cloud’s success in opening up public sector tech procurement to SMEs since it was launched in 2012.
But he branded the current timeline confusion “not a great look”.
“There’s been very little communication about this, and half the stuff on the various portals doesn’t match,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of calls [from suppliers] asking us, ‘what’s going on’? We’re as confused as they are.
“The vast majority of suppliers on G-Cloud are small suppliers, and they’re having to line up and allocate work proportionately.”
With G-Cloud 15 now not set to go live until October 2026, resellers and MSPs won’t have a chance to refresh their pricing for at least another 14 months, Farthing noted.
“It’s going to have a massive effect on resellers and MSPs because all the hyperscalers have put up their prices – so there’s a knock-on effect,” he said.
G-Cloud spend for full-year 2023/24 hit £3.1bn, according to CCS.
That compares to the £6bn value the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Government Digital Service pegged the total public sector public cloud market at for 2024.
Set to run for four years, G-Cloud 15’s total value including VAT has been estimated at £9.6bn.
A CCS spokesperson confirmed that the current publication date for the Find a Tender notice for G-Cloud 15 is 23 October 2025, but issued no further comment.
