The Digital Services Framework will be redesigned and possibly renamed to build one fit for purpose.
Tony Singleton, director of digital commercial programme for GDS, announced in a blog post that the current framework will be redesigned to the extent that “it will essentially be a new framework”.
He added: “We’re even considering giving it a new name that more accurately reflects its purpose.”
Suppliers on the framework wanted to have the capability to deploy teams which can address specific needs and work towards an outcome, therefore the unnamed network will be designed to allow buyers to engage with individuals or teams to deliver a business outcome.
Since its launch in November, many have spoken out against the framework, and earlier this year a small agile development services supplier said it had to pull out of the framework after difficulties with what was required of it under the framework guidelines.
Tony Singleton confirmed the redesigned framework would stand independently from G-Cloud as it uses different procurement processes and caters for different users.
He said it would follow the same GDS-designed principles to ensure it meets user needs.
He said: “We did consider whether the redesigned digital services should be a lot on G-Cloud, but decided against it as G-Cloud is for commodity cloud services and is based on supplier terms and conditions.
“To include this in the G-Cloud framework would add considerably to the contract terms and conditions, increasing the burden on SMEs [small to medium-sized enterprises].”