Recommendations & Conclusions
34 items
2
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Acknowledged
The Cabinet Office and DSIT have many expectations for the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence to deliver the large–scale improvements needed to current digital commercial activities, as well as its existing aims. Government’s current digital commercial approaches and practices require improvement in a range of areas, including creating a clear …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to set out the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence's plans and resource allocation, stating it will focus on supplier and market engagement and undertake further work on remaining issues, but without providing specific details …
HM Treasury
3
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Cabinet Office and DSIT’s approach to preparing for the opportunities and risks presented by new technologies is not yet being developed alongside addressing more immediate digital procurement challenges. Government faces uncertain but profound technological changes, particularly around artificial intelligence, and rapidly needs to develop the skills to deliver the next …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and commits to launching an updated Digital, Data and Technology Playbook in December 2025, detailing its framework, best practices, and governance. However, the response does not detail a comprehensive plan for securing digital commercial …
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
GCF’s current plans for training to build digital commercial expertise across the civil service are insufficient to bring about the transformative change needed to improve government’s digital commercial activity. GCF acknowledges that government needs to do more to build digital commercial skills across the base and lift the whole level. …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to set out how departments will gain digital commercial skills and expertise, committing to provide further details to the Committee in December 2025 regarding resources aligned to digital procurement, contract management capabilities, and senior …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Government’s ability to get the best deals with technology suppliers is being hampered by its lack of knowledge of what it is spending or its future needs. Government estimates that it spends over £14 billion each year on digital commercial activity. But it cannot say for certain as it has …
Government response. The government agrees and will develop a standard framework for procurement platforms and deliver a central digital platform, leveraging data from existing systems. Further detail will be provided to the committee in December, aligning with the implementation date.
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Government is underestimating how difficult it will be to consolidate its buying power centrally when procuring digital technology across government, in a way that will give it maximum leverage. Spending over £14 billion annually on digital technology suppliers gives government considerable buying power and the potential to make deals that …
Government response. The government agrees and will adjust functional standards for commercial and digital, develop a standard taxonomy for category strategies, and review control and assurance frameworks to optimise processes. These actions are part of the Cabinet Office departmental transformation programme.
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on government’s relationship with technology suppliers.1
Government response. The government states it has established a Government Digital Service-led Technical Design Authority to set digital strategy and is developing a strategic supplier relationship management approach. This work leverages skills across government to focus on key strategic supplier relationships and …
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We therefore asked how government was keeping up with the pace of change in technology markets, and when we could expect a coherent strategy in response. DSIT recognised that there was currently a gap between the market in which it was operating and its approach and committed to publishing a …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and will update the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Playbook, launching a publication in December 2025 to align with current practices for procurement across public sector projects. The committee will receive an update on …
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Despite the technology market being dominated by large suppliers and changes in how they choose to negotiate and exercise leverage with government, we noted that GCF only had 15 people dedicated to the full–time management of the 19 largest technology suppliers. This compares to 4 in GDS. There are additionally …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, outlining a three-phased plan to raise digital commercial capability across the GCF by March 2026. Additionally, the GCF and DCCoE will undertake a review of resource levels dedicated to digital procurement and contract management capabilities …
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
To maximise the value obtained from digital procurements, departments need to ensure that digital people are sufficiently involved, as well as a range of project delivery, finance and legal teams. This entails more than just working collaboratively; it needs to address how digital expertise will have much greater input, accountability …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating it has been implemented with the launch of the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence (DCCoE). The DCCoE is formalising roles and responsibilities to ensure greater integration and input of digital expertise in procurements.
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We observed that it felt like procurement and digital commercial activity sits in a lot of places and different organisations. We therefore asked whether there was a clear sense of who was ultimately responsible for delivering the improvements to digital procurement that government needs to make, and whether Departments shared …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating it has been implemented with the launch of the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence (DCCoE). The DCCoE is a joint team working to formalise roles and responsibilities between digital and commercial teams, addressing concerns …
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
In January 2025, the government published its ‘Blueprint for modern digital government’. This announced the creation of a new Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence with an objective to “identify opportunities for further reform and improvements needed to enable tech startups, scaleups and [small–and medium–sized enterprises] to access government contracts.” 16 …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to developing a Digital Commercial Strategy by December 2025. This strategy will include a focused approach to supplier and market engagement, specifically addressing Small and Medium Enterprise and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise suppliers.
HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
During our evidence session, the Cabinet Office and DSIT identified a range of other areas that they expected the new Centre of Excellence to contribute to. For example, the GCF recognised that it needed to do “a lot more” to refresh the digital, data and technology playbook, which it would …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to develop a Digital Commercial Strategy by December 2025. This strategy will include an agreed approach to supplier and market engagement, with a particular focus on Small and Medium Enterprise and Voluntary, Community and …
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office and DSIT told us that the role of the Centre of Excellence will include working further with departments, for example to help them produce much stronger forecast data on what they are intending to spend, and helping them optimise their use of cloud by avoiding over–purchasing and …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating that the GCF Digital & Data Team will establish a process by December 2025 to leverage commercial insights from data across government. This will include developing a standard framework for procurement platforms and delivering …
HM Treasury
14
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We asked how government could manage its relationships with large technology suppliers, particularly given concerns about lack of competition or rising costs.20 DSIT told us that it needed to build government’s capability in some specific areas of digital procurement, as activities such as “buying cloud brilliantly is a quite specific …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to a December 2025 implementation date. It details the launch of the DCCoE, establishment of a GDS-led Technical Design Authority, and the development of a strategic supplier relationship management approach, focusing on key tech …
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office said that the next step will be to fully staff up resource for the Centre of Excellence in DSIT and ensure that it has the capacity across digital and commercial teams to operate, which would be taking place in March 2025. It explained that the Centre of …
Government response. The government states the recommendation has been implemented, with the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence (DCCoE) already launched as a joint team between the Cabinet Office and DSIT. The DCCoE is now working to formalise roles and responsibilities and leverage …
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Government faces uncertain but profound technological changes, particularly around artificial intelligence, and recognises that it rapidly needs to develop the skills to deliver the next generation of programmes for digitally enabled change. At the same time, it needs to bring the skills of its people up to an acceptable standard …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to actions by December 2025 to develop digital skills and address capability gaps. These include the DCCoE leading the development of a category-based skills structure, testing a proof of concept, and establishing a Commercial …
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We therefore asked how DSIT intended to resolve the issues surrounding legacy digital systems. DSIT told us that the challenges of the legacy environment required many skills to resolve, not just digital skills, many of which were “very scarce”. It explained that resolving legacy issues was necessary in its own …
Government response. The government agrees and will update and re-launch the Digital, Data and Technology Playbook by December 2025, which includes specific guidelines on addressing legacy IT issues and will be adopted across all relevant procurement activities.
HM Treasury
18
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The NAO found that Cabinet Office does not have a plan for how it will develop the specialist digital skills or commercial capability required. In an area as important as digital procurement, it found that it was essential that government had “a clear view of the skills it needs, the …
Government response. The government agrees and will, by December 2025, address digital skills gaps by having the DCCoE lead a category-based structure for digital skills, testing a proof of concept through the Central Buying project, and setting up a Commercial IT Directors …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Cabinet Office also told us that it will work on a “comprehensive package of upskilling, capability and assurance” across the wider civil service to ensure that it could act as an intelligent customer. But it noted that this was an “ongoing challenge” and not a simple set of actions or …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to a three-phased approach to build digital commercial skills across the GCF, with target dates for each phase. This includes mandatory courses for GCF staff by September 2025, further specific training by March 2026, …
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We recognised that the Government Chief Commercial Officer was new in post but noted that it was reasonable to expect them to have considered how they intended to address issues surrounding digital commercial skills. We therefore asked how the new Government Chief Commercial Officer would bring the sea change needed. …
Government response. The government agrees and details a three-phased approach to raise digital commercial capability across the 6,000 GCF staff, including mandatory training by September 2025 and March 2026, and a longer-term learning needs analysis. Additionally, a review of resources aligned to …
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The government has published a ‘Digital, data and technology playbook’, which sets out key policies and guidance for how digital projects are assessed, procured and delivered.33 We asked whether this would be the primary tool for driving some of the change that was needed. DSIT described the purpose of the …
Government response. The government agrees and will update and re-launch the Digital, Data and Technology Playbook by December 2025, ensuring it is up to date with current practices for adoption across all relevant procurement activities and includes specific guidelines on areas like …
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The GCF accepted that the playbook needed to be enhanced and improved, and said that in doing so it would involve GDS. It explained that its aim was to ensure that the playbook was “really fit for purpose”, in terms of where government wanted to move forward in the digital …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to updating and launching the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Playbook with GDS by December 2025. The revised playbook will incorporate best practices, an outcome-based approach, and guidance on risk management, continuous improvement, and …
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Providing appropriate training is a key element of developing the digital commercial skills that government needs. The NAO report found that government did not have training for digital commercial skills. It noted that in 2023, GCF launched a digital commercial development programme for senior commercial professionals, but that this focused …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation and has established a three-phased approach to systematically raise digital commercial capability across the GCF. This includes baseline training by September 2025, broader digital training by March 2026, and a learning needs analysis for deeper …
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We therefore asked why this was the case, and whether this created a skills gap. GCF told us that “a significant amount of commercial training and development” went on across government. It explained that this was more general and applied to “all complex outsourcing and procurement services”.40 GDS told us …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation to build digital commercial skills into future training by implementing a three-phased approach. This includes foundational training by September 2025, broader digital training by March 2026, and a learning needs analysis for deeper specialisation.
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We asked the Cabinet Office the extent to which it felt that government was “moving from a basic digital world to an evolved digital world” and whether addressing issues with digital procurement, at the speed needed, could help this transition. The Cabinet Office agreed that “procurement and commercial teams can …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation to build digital commercial skills, detailing a three-phased approach with target dates. This includes mandatory courses for GCF staff by September 2025, further specific digital training by March 2026, and a learning needs analysis for …
HM Treasury
26
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We observed that our predecessor Committee saw examples where departments made mistakes in designing and procuring digital programmes, particularly where legacy technology was involved. We were concerned that some larger departments are better served with digital skills than some of the smaller ones, but that even in large departments this …
Government response. The government agrees and outlines a three-phased plan to raise digital commercial capability across the GCF, including mandatory digital training courses for staff by September 2025 (Phase 1) and an additional 11 hours of training by March 2026 (Phase 2), …
HM Treasury
27
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We asked whether government had the digital expertise needed to negotiate with suppliers and global ‘big tech’ corporations. The Cabinet Office told us that this was a “complex and big–scale set of challenges” and that the picture was “mixed”. It explained that it was confident that in the centre of …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating the DCCoE has been launched, a Technical Design Authority established, and a strategic supplier relationship management approach is being developed. This work, focusing on strategic and big tech suppliers, has a target implementation date …
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Successful procurement programmes require departments to have digital commercial experts at senior level, and governance arrangements to ensure that senior leaders are equipped to understand the issues being raised and the options available to manage risks.47 DSIT told us that the January 2025 Blueprint envisaged every organisation having a digital …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, outlining a three-phased approach to enhance digital commercial acumen across the GCF with target dates for training and capability building by September 2025 and March 2026. It will also undertake a review of digital procurement …
HM Treasury
29
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Government lacks data on spend and the pipeline of supply and demand. Available estimates from third parties suggest that government spends at least £14 billion annually on digital procurement, but government has not been able to provide a more precise figure. There is also insufficient information about the pipeline of …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to the GCF Digital & Data Team setting out a process to leverage commercial insights from data by December 2025. This includes developing a standard framework for procurement platforms and delivering a central digital …
HM Treasury
30
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
We asked how government was going to make better use of the data available on spending on digital programmes. Cabinet Office said that a new data platform was introduced in March 2025 to enable departments to provide better data on spending and pipelines. GCF explained that the central digital platform …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating the GCF Digital & Data Team will set out a process to leverage commercial insights from data by December 2025. This will involve developing a standard framework for procurement platforms and delivering a central …
HM Treasury
31
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office is responsible for maximising the buying power of the state. We therefore asked the Cabinet Office how government could negotiate volume discounts with large suppliers or cloud suppliers, or aggregated contracts, without data on the expected future demand which GCF has been unable to do in the …
Government response. The government agrees and the GCF Digital & Data Team will, by December 2025, set out a process to leverage commercial insights from data, including developing a standard framework for procurement platforms and delivering a central digital platform, with further …
HM Treasury
32
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
GCF explained that government has historically sought to exercise buying power through competition between technology suppliers. Increasingly, the technology market is being dominated by a small number of very large suppliers. We observed that moving between digital suppliers, particularly cloud providers, is not something to be undertaken lightly because the …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation and will evolve its Commercial Operating Model, develop a standard taxonomy, and undertake a review of controls and assurance frameworks by December 2025 to become a more sophisticated digital buyer.
HM Treasury
33
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
Government has made attempts to co–ordinate in order to gain benefits from its scale. GCF has signed agreements with the major cloud providers which allow them to treat the public sector as a single customer for the purposes of determining volume discounts.56 However, DSIT recognised that government’s current approach to …
Government response. The government agrees and will, by December 2025, evolve the Commercial Operating Model, develop a standard taxonomy for category strategies to consolidate demand, and review controls and assurance frameworks to optimize its approach to becoming a more sophisticated buyer of …
HM Treasury
34
Recommendation
27th Report - Government’s relationship…
Accepted
The NAO found that government will need to adopt wide–ranging changes to how it approaches digital commercial activity, which reflect the changing reality of technology markets. For example, it will need to understand its negotiation levers more fully, understand more clearly how the centre of government and departments can work …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, committing to updating and launching the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Playbook by December 2025. This updated playbook will provide a comprehensive framework to guide digital commercial activity, focusing on best practices and an outcome-based …
HM Treasury