Big opportunity beckons for business in tech and IT sector

Warwickshire's thriving tech and IT sector has another major potential customer in the pipeline after the Cabinet Office launched a campaign to encourage more businesses to bid for government contracts.

The Cabinet Office and Government Digital Service have published new guidelines designed to help tech and IT companies do business with government.

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Ben Gummer announced a two-way commitment, the ‘supplier standard’, to build collaborative and constructive relationships between government and the tech industry.

The supplier standard has six principles which will form the benchmark for IT and tech contracts.

Those prinicples are:

• User needs first
• Data is a public asset
• Services built on open standards and reusable components
• Simple, clear, fast transactions
• Ongoing engagement
• Transparent contracting

One of the key areas of focus is tech and digital contracts and Mr Gummer outlined the government’s ongoing commitment to move away from large-scale, long-term IT contracts towards more agile and transparent interactions focused on joint delivery.

He emphasised that the government is "open for business" and wants to work with the best suppliers of all sizes - a message sure to be of interest to businesses in Warwickshire which is renowned for its place at the forefront of the IT and tech industries.

"My message to those who operate and work in this sector is, no matter how large or how small your company is, this government is open for business," said Mr Gummer. "The new supplier standard is just a starting point. We want suppliers, both current and potential, to take note of the key principles and use them to help in the bidding process for government IT and tech projects.

"I’d like to thank techUK for helping us to put together these new standards – they have played an instrumental part in helping us to form this pact with the industry."

Julian David, CEO of techUK, said: "In order to achieve digitally-enabled public services that meet the needs of 21st century Britain, it’s vital that public and private sectors work closely together. These six principles are a great step forward in delivering the right collaboration between government and industry.

"They will be the basis for opening procurement to companies large and small, exposing government departments to the best innovation our tech sector has to offer, and delivering value for money to the UK taxpayer."

The principles have been published on GOV.UK. For the rest of 2016, the Government Digital Service will actively collect feedback on the new Supplier Standard, both online and a via number of workshops within the industry.