Public sector procurement teams can breathe a sigh of relief as G-Cloud 14 has come to fruition. This blog explains how G-Cloud 14 can help save money on your GIS services and free up your GIS teams to concentrate on what they do best.
What is G-Cloud 14?
G-Cloud is a procurement framework which makes public sector procurement easier. It provides a pre-approved list of suppliers and services. This reduces the time and effort needed to source and evaluate GIS services.
Can Astun supply services under G-Cloud 14?
Yes, Astun has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud 14 framework.
Who manages G-Cloud 14?
G-Cloud 14 is managed by Crown Commercial Service (CCS), an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office. The CCS supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.
How much money have organisations saved using G-Cloud?
In 2023/24, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £4.9 billion – supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.
Has Astun experience in supplying services under G-Cloud?
Yes. We’ve supplied services under G-Cloud since 2015 (G-Cloud 5).
What are the benefits of buying GIS services under G-Cloud?
Buying under G-Cloud 14 helps eliminate some potential risks.
All G-Cloud 14 suppliers have been through a rigorous vetting process. This looks at technical capabilities, security, financial stability and compliance.
“As our prices and detailed service specifications are publicly available, it’s easier for potential customers to compare options before making a decision. In addition, we are required to submit standardised contract terms to ensure that all clients are treated fairly. All of this greatly simplifies the procurement process and reduces the administrative burden on the customer and their procurement team by eliminating time-consuming clarifications and negotiations.”
Mike Smith, Renewals Manager
What services can we buy from Astun under G-Cloud 14?
One of our most popular G-Cloud services is our open source end-to-end GIS system, iShare in the Cloud Enterprise GIS (iSiC). This is available under Lot 2: Cloud Software.
iSiC includes:
- Full enterprise, intranet GIS or public-facing only deployment options
- Intranet GIS including enhanced editing and spatial querying
- Public facing mapping portal and information portal
- Mobile GIS, field data capture and cloud-hosted desktop GIS
- Access to Ordnance Survey base mapping (PSGA & OpenData)
- Spatial Data Warehouse (SDW)
- Support for enterprise metadata (INSPIRE compliant)
- Web Services API including OGC WMS and WFS services
- ETL Data integration tooling (extract, transform and load)
- Fault reporting, public consultations and integration with Power BI
Astun Clarity for Metadata Management and Data Discoverability (Lot 2: Cloud Software)
This cloud-based metadata service provides both internal metadata maintenance and discovery services with a workflow for quality approval and subsequent publication of a subset of records to data.gov.uk or other standards compliant portal.
Astun Consultancy Services for Open Source Geospatial Solutions (Lot 3: Cloud Support)
We provide a consultancy service for the full range of Open Source GeoSpatial (OSGeo) technologies. The OSGeo stack includes QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer, GeoNetwork, MapServer, OpenLayers, Leaflet, MapProxy or other OSGeo implementation in the cloud.
Astun Support Coverage for Open Source Geospatial Solutions (Lot 3: Cloud Support)
If you require formal Enterprise Grade Support for a deployment of any of the OSGeo technologies, Astun’s Support Coverage could be just what you need. It provides a dedicated support service for the full range of OSGeo technologies.
You can find more info on the G-Cloud website, including Service Definition documents. These include a list of benefits.
What’s the duration of an Astun G-Cloud 14 contract?
The initial term is normally three years. Under G-Cloud 14, clients can include an option to extend their agreement for a further year.
What are the other main differences between G-Cloud 13 and 14?
G-Cloud 14 also enables buyers to make more informed decisions:
- G-Cloud 14 enables service users to rate suppliers. Ratings will be visible to potential clients.
- Suppliers are required to provide very detailed information about their services, including security. As data is one of your biggest assets, we think this makes perfect sense.
We bought services from Astun under an earlier version of G-Cloud. What happens now?
We will speak to you before your renewal is due to find out if you want a renewal quote under G-Cloud 14.
We’re new to Astun. How do we buy from Astun under G-Cloud 14?
If you haven’t got an Account Manager already, please contact us. If you have an Account Manager, please ask them for help. They will happily advise you which G-Cloud 14 services will meet your needs. We can also help you prepare the required documentation.
A G-Cloud Buyer’s Guide is available on the gov.uk website.
How can we find out more about Astun’s G-Cloud 14 offering?
You can check our G-Cloud 14 listing or speak to your Account Manager.