Crown Commercial Service
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) dont evaluate suppliers or their individual services.
When you buy a service through the Digital Marketplace, you must check that both the supplier and the service can meet your needs. This means that you must write clear requirements and evaluate suppliers services against them.
The application process
There are 2 parts to the supplier application process on the Digital Marketplace. Suppliers have to:
- Confirm information about their company history and the way they work through a series of questions. This is called the supplier declaration.
- Add information about the services that they want to offer.
The supplier declaration
Suppliers are legally required to meet a set of minimum standards. Only those suppliers who state that they meet these minimum standards in the supplier declaration are considered for a place on a framework (agreement between government and suppliers).
All G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers on the Digital Marketplace have to confirm that they:
- agree to the latest G-Cloud framework agreement or Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework agreement
- will take full responsibility for the work they do
- havent broken any laws that could lead to a mandatory exclusion from the application process
Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers also have to confirm that theyll work according to:
- Civil Service values
- the governments digital-by-default service standard
- the government technology code of practice
- accessibility standards set out by the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018
- corporate social responsibility standards, for example providing a modern slavery and human trafficking statement
Service details
As well as completing the supplier declaration, all suppliers have to provide information on their services. The details suppliers are asked to give depends on the category they apply to.
Digital Outcomes and Specialists service details
Digital Outcomes and Specialists services have to fit into 1 of 4 categories, or lots:
- digital outcomes, for example a team to provide a booking system beta or an accessibility audit
- digital specialists, for example an individual developer or user researcher to work on a specific project
- user research studios
- user research participants
Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers must include information like:
- where they can work
- how much their services cost
- services they can provide
G-Cloud service details
G-Cloud services have to fit into 1 of 3 different lots:
- cloud hosting, for example content delivery networks or load balancing services
- cloud software, for example accounting tools or customer service management software
- cloud support, for example migration services or ongoing support
G-Cloud suppliers must include information like:
- how secure their services are
- how much their services cost
- where they store your data
- whether their services are based on open standards
Read the G-Cloud suppliers guide or the Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers guide to learn more.
CCS checks
After suppliers have been accepted on to a framework, CCS:
- monitors supplier credit scores, for example Dun and Bradstreet rating
- investigates specific queries raised about suppliers
- performs assurance verification on services to ensure they match the information provided in supplier applications
Its your responsibility to check whether the supplier can offer a service that meets your needs.