g-cloud vision

DATA CENTRE STRATEGY, G-CLOUD &
GOVERNMENT APPLICATIONS STORE
PROGRAMME PHASE 2

PHASE 2 SCOPE REPORT

Authors: Martin Bellamy and Gerry Gallagher
Date: 10 February 2011
Version No: 0.35

UNCLASSIFIED

Data Centre Strategy, G-Cloud & Government Applications Store Programme Phase 2

Summary of Vision

Introduction

1.1 At the core of the programme is the vision of providing political, business and ICT
leaders with greatly improved agility, flexibility and choice in the ICT that enables the public
sector and to deliver substantial cost savings on both existing and new ICT services. This will
involve a wholesale move to shared utility style ICT services for use as „the default‟ across
the public sector. Citizens, staff and the third sector will benefit from greater innovation and
choice and from more personalised presentation of relevant services from across the public
sector.

1.2 The programme is being designed to address key ICT related objectives set out by
the Operational Efficiency Programme, and those of the Green ICT Strategy, Digital Britain,
Building Britain‟s Future and Smarter Government.

1.3 Recent developments in ICT have made it possible to consolidate ICT Infrastructure
in a way that delivers increased flexibility and responsiveness to business needs whilst
reducing costs. This change involves a move from ICT being provided individually by
organisations procuring their own separate ICT infrastructure, to a new model in which ICT is
provided as a utility which is known as “Cloud Computing”. The flexibility provided by Cloud
computing has enabled its rapid growth and a corresponding lowering of costs.

1.4 Public sector organisations will benefit from ready access to a wide range of pre-
accredited ICT services. These will include both „public cloud‟ services and common and
custom „private cloud‟ services procured by other public sector organisations. Services will
offer usage based pricing, elastic scalability (up or down), and there will be in built flexibility to
switch to alternate services or providers.

1.5 Cost savings will be founded on driving down the number of unique public sector
services through rationalising, sharing and re-using software and infrastructure across
organisational boundaries, joining up buying power by establishing an open and transparent
marketplace that delivers „latest best prices‟ to all, and by introducing standard, automated
processes across the entire ICT lifecycle;- from purchasing new solutions through to
migrating existing services to a new supplier. Industry standards will be used „as is‟ for public
cloud services. For private cloud services common standards and services will be driven „up
the stack‟ to the maximum possible extent; the technical standards landscape will be
controlled by the CTO Council through the cross government Enterprise Architecture (xGEA).

1.6 G-Cloud services will be selected and procured from the Government Applications
Store, and automatically provisioned – either from public cloud providers, or from a private
cloud platform hosted in one of a much reduced number of List X compliant government data
centres; these will also support legacy services during the transition period.

1.7 The way forwards involves substantial change from today‟s ICT delivery model;-
public sector CIO teams will shift from managing the whole ICT lifecycle, to the selection and
integration of relevant services. A federated (rather than centralised) implementation
approach is proposed, allowing many public sector organisations and suppliers to contribute
re-usable assets that can be sourced by others from the Government Applications Store.
Retained ICT organisations will be able to increase focus on business engagement and

01 FINAL G-Cloud Vision v0 35.doc5 UNCLASSIFIED 2


achieving value adding outcomes as less effort will be needed on infrastructure management.
There will be choice in the „road-map‟ for each organization; the route chosen will depend on
business priorities and the current ICT and contractual landscape.

1.8 Major change inevitably creates execution risks. Other public and private sector
organisations that have pioneered the move to a shared utility ICT delivery model have had
strong central drive and leadership. Most private sector organisations have had "someone in
charge" on a global basis. The US government has introduced the Klinger Cohen act and
Economic Development act, which mandate some elements of a more common public sector
approach to ICT. The main areas of challenge in successfully moving to the new model
include leadership, business change management, stakeholder engagement and creating a
win-win proposition for business leaders, users of ICT services, public sector ICT
professionals and the ICT supplier community. For the UK, leadership by the CIO Council is
central to achieving the transition within the public sector‟s devolved, federated organisation.
Engagement of Permanent Secretaries and other business leaders will be also be crucial.
The programme will allocate significant resource to the „soft‟ aspects of change; this will
include centrally co-ordinated communications support and sharing of experience.

1.9 The new approach enables substantial benefits in small and medium sized public
sector organisations including local authorities which may be relatively easier to realise in the
short term, as well as significant benefits in central government in the longer term.
Implementation planning will ensure appropriate balance to mitigate the risk that focus on
large organisations „crowds out‟ the potential delivery of larger benefits to the majority.

1.10 Establishing and maintaining „trust‟ will be essential for public sector organisations to
move to the new model – individual organisations will remain responsible for the service they
provide to the public and will need to be able to count on G-Cloud services as being at least
as good as those used today. G-Cloud will be the internal brand for secure, trusted and
shared public sector ICT services;- all G-Cloud services will have common characteristics
including pre-certified standards compliance covering areas such as service delivery,
technical (data, inter-operability etc) and information assurance, provisioning from an efficient
and sustainable data centre, and will be available through the Government Applications Store
at a „value for money‟ best public sector price.

1.11 Given that significant value comes from up front, sharable work on commercials,
service management and information assurance, frameworks will be developed in each of
these areas to enable certification/validation on a component level, so that work does not
have to be repeated when components are assembled into new combinations.

1.12 The transition to the new approach will be achieved through a series of business
focused implementation programmes, each of which will deliver financial and other business
benefits. Some of these will be progressed in parallel. Potential implementation programmes
include Consolidating Data Centres, Utility Applications, Efficient Hosting, Streamlining
legacy, Empowering Business Change, Delivering for Citizens and Staff.

1.13 The programme is adopting a "learning by doing approach” through the “Quick Wins”
work strand. Quick Wins will launch a number of initiatives in February 2010 including several
prototype cloud development environments and a demo version of the Government
Applications Store. These will be available free of charge to public sector organisations. The
strand is exploring extending its scope to build proofs of concept of some automation and



management services. The Quick Wins strand provides a foundation that can potentially be
used to develop a full proof of concept of the future G-Cloud model. CIO Council members
are encouraged to help build programme momentum and early experience by signing their
organisations up to participate in the Quick Wins pilots.

1.14 While further work is needed to determine implementation timescales, the ambition is
to deliver substantial cost savings in the period 2011-2014, to have the proposed approach
fully in place for new services within 3-5 years, and to complete the majority of legacy
rationalisation and migration within 10 years.

Data Centre Consolidation

2.1 Consolidation can commence through inviting suppliers that currently operate multiple
data centres for the public sector to consolidate to two each, with the savings achievable
through estate reductions and virtualisation rebated to their public sector clients. As existing
contracts expire, replacement G Cloud services can then be sourced from the Government
Applications Store where available;- where not, contract renewal can be used to drive
provision of additional G Cloud services as the preferred choice. During the transition period
some unique residual needs will need to be sourced via a conventional procurement
exercise.

2.2 Private G Cloud services will be provisioned from a limited number of sustainable data
centres. Analysis will be conducted to determine whether there is a case for procuring data
centre estate separately from ICT services; this would enable sharing of physical facilities
between multiple G Cloud service providers and ease inter-supplier service transfers.

G Cloud

3.1 There will be 3 main categories of G Cloud branded services:-

Software as a Service (SaaS) which includes managed services, common, utility and
custom services, all of which can be configured for use by many Public Sector bodies.
Platform as a Service (PaaS); a framework overseen by the CTO Council that will be
used to create and manage provisioning of new business applications based on
shared re-usable components ; and
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for hosting existing applications. This includes
services providing capability for
o Managing, securing and storing data
o Hosting applications

3.2 The G Cloud brand will offer dedicated „private‟ services for public sector
organisations, and trusted public cloud services in each category. Public cloud services are
developing rapidly, and are already used by a number of public sector bodies, for example for
services that do not involve personal data. The range and sophistication of public cloud
services will continue to grow and more of the Public Sector‟s ICT needs will be met from
public clouds as today‟s constraints are addressed over time. These constraints currently
include:-



Information Assurance requirements e.g. data centres are outside the UK;
End to end performance of services from public clouds may not be guaranteed; and
Proprietary standards used by some public clouds create the risk of lock in.

3.3 G-Cloud private cloud services will address these constraints, enabling earlier use of
the shared utility model across the public sector. Private G Cloud services will typically be
provisioned by suppliers using an industry standard platform for example Microsoft Azure,
VMware, or Eucalyptus, an Open Source platform that implements Amazon Web Services
standards.

Government Applications Store

4.1 The Government Applications Store will be the marketplace in which trusted services
can be trialled and then purchased from a variety of sources by the Public Sector. The
services available will include private G-Cloud services, certified public cloud and other ICT
Services (eg COTS); and other public sector ICT services such as PSN services.

4.2 The Government Applications Store will be an open marketplace encouraging both
existing and new suppliers to the Public Sector to participate. New suppliers to the Public
Sector will be able to promote and trial their services as “free” prototypes on the Government
Applications Store in order to gauge market interest, with a defined commercial process to
introduce new categories of service where demand is generated. Services that add new
value will be welcomed into the portfolio provided they meet the minimum assurance
requirements – the approach will be „light touch‟ and will emphasise validating service
outcomes rather than auditing the detailed implementation approach.

4.3 Services available through the Government Applications Store will be certified to
demonstrate their compliance to Public Sector requirements. The scope, service levels,
security accreditation and price of the services will be available for review by potential
purchasers.

4.4 The commercial framework of the Government Application Store will allow
purchasers to buy certified services from an on-line catalogue under a cross public sector
framework contract. Services will be paid for on a per use or subscription basis. The latest
price achieved for the service will be shown to purchasers, however if subsequently a lower
price for this service is achieved by another organisation then this will be made available to
all subscribers of the service - from the point at which the new lower price is achieved.

4.5 The Government Applications Store will encourage re-use of existing services.
Purchasers will be directed to existing Managed Services and then to Common Government
and Utility services. Only if these types of offerings are not suitable will purchasers proceed
to build a custom service. The application services offered will vary from commodity
applications which can be used by any organisation with little change to line of business
applications which will require adapting to a particular organisation.

4.6 In order to avoid “lock in” to a particular infrastructure provider there will be a choice
of at least two infrastructure providers for each application. In principle purchasers will be



able to transfer their chosen application service to another infrastructure provider if required
at some future point, although this may involve some data migration activity.

4.7 Following selection of the application and infrastructure provider, the purchased
service will be provisioned through an automated process in the organisation‟s data context.
This will require standards for common data items, again to be specified by the CTO
Council. Subject to policy and individuals‟ decisions, these standards will also ease the
process of sharing data between different public sector organisations.

4.8 While the Government Applications Store will have a centrally managed „master
catalogue‟, there will be the capability to configure views of the catalogue for specific
communities, for example to enable focus on services most relevant to a particular type of
organisation, or to „grey out‟ services which are not approved by the user‟s organisation.
There will also be the ability to support „Communities of Interest‟, encouraging public sector
organisations and individuals to innovate by creating/configuring and then sharing locally
generated applications. „Closed loop‟ feedback will provide visibility of what‟s working,
enabling future trial and purchasing decisions to be informed by others‟ experiences.



Contents

1. Purpose of Document ........................................................................................................... 11

2. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 12

3. Why Use Cloud Computing in the Public Sector ................................................................ 14

3.1. Public Sector ICT Landscape........................................................................................... 14

3.1.1. Budgetary Pressures..................................................................................................... 14

3.1.2. Green Agenda ............................................................................................................... 14

3.1.3. Digital Britain .................................................................................................................. 15

3.1.4. ICT Procurement ........................................................................................................... 15

3.1.5. ICT Strategy for Government ....................................................................................... 16

3.1.6. Quality of Data Centres................................................................................................. 18

3.2. Developments in the ICT Industry ................................................................................... 18

3.2.1. Will G-Cloud Deliver? .................................................................................................... 20

3.2.2. Will Cloud Computing Happen? ................................................................................... 20

3.2.3. Can the benefits be delivered? .................................................................................... 20

3.2.4. Does G-Cloud depend on leading edge technology? ................................................ 21

3.2.5. Key Risks ....................................................................................................................... 21

3.3. Benefits .............................................................................................................................. 23

3.3.1. Budgetary Pressures..................................................................................................... 23

3.3.2. Green Agenda ............................................................................................................... 23

3.3.3. Digital Britain .................................................................................................................. 24

3.3.4. ICT Procurement ........................................................................................................... 24

3.3.5. Current Initiatives........................................................................................................... 24

3.3.6. Quality of Data Centres................................................................................................. 25

3.3.7. ICT Market ..................................................................................................................... 25

4. The New World of G-Cloud .................................................................................................. 26

4.1. G-Cloud .............................................................................................................................. 27



4.1.1. Application and Information Services .......................................................................... 28

4.1.1.1. Personal Information Management .......................................................................... 29

4.1.1.2. Interaction................................................................................................................... 29

4.1.1.3. Collaboration and Simple Applications .................................................................... 29

4.1.1.4. Resource and Management ..................................................................................... 29

4.1.1.5. Departmental Applications ........................................................................................ 29

4.1.1.6. Data Services ............................................................................................................. 29

4.1.1.7. Line of Business (LOB) ............................................................................................. 29

4.1.1.8. Information Access .................................................................................................... 29

4.1.2. Infrastructure and Platform Services ........................................................................... 30

4.1.3. Data Services on the G-Cloud...................................................................................... 31

4.1.4. Professional ICT Services ............................................................................................ 33

4.1.4.1. Service Management Services ................................................................................. 33

4.1.4.2. System Integration Services ..................................................................................... 33

4.1.5. Exclusions from G-Cloud Scope .................................................................................. 33

4.2. Government Applications Store ....................................................................................... 34

4.3. Data Centre Consolidation ............................................................................................... 37

4.4. Organisation and Governance in the world of G-Cloud ................................................. 38

4.5. Roadmap ........................................................................................................................... 40

4.6. Transition ........................................................................................................................... 42

5. Principles ............................................................................................................................... 43

5.1. Commercial Principles ...................................................................................................... 43

5.2. Technical Principles .......................................................................................................... 46

5.3. Information Assurance Principles .................................................................................... 47

5.5. Transition Principles.......................................................................................................... 50

6. Scenarios ............................................................................................................................... 51

7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 52



8. Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 53

A1. Appendix 1 - Glossary of terms ............................................................................................ 53

A2. Appendix 2 Stakeholder list .................................................................................................. 55

A3. Appendix 3 – Details of Scenarios........................................................................................ 57

A3.1. Central Government Department ICT Service Director ................................................... 57

A3.1.1. Role: ................................................................................................................................. 57

A3.1.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 57

A3.1.3. Outcome: .......................................................................................................................... 57

A3.2. Local Government Director of Housing ............................................................................. 59

A3.2.1. Role: ................................................................................................................................. 59

A3.2.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 59

A3.2.3. Outcome A: ...................................................................................................................... 59

A3.2.4. Outcome B: ...................................................................................................................... 60

A3.3. Private Sector Application Provider................................................................................... 61

A3.3.1. Role................................................................................................................................... 61

A3.3.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 61

A3.3.3. Outcome: .......................................................................................................................... 61

A3.4. Central Government Department ICT Service Director ................................................... 62

A3.4.1. Role: ................................................................................................................................. 62

A3.4.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 62

A3.4.3. Outcome: .......................................................................................................................... 62

A3.5. Local Government CIO....................................................................................................... 63

A3.5.1. Role: ................................................................................................................................. 63

A3.5.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 63

A3.5.3. Outcome: .......................................................................................................................... 63

A3.6. Private Sector ICT Provider ............................................................................................... 64

A3.6.1. Role: ................................................................................................................................. 64



A3.6.2. Challenge: ........................................................................................................................ 64

A3.6.3. Outcome: .......................................................................................................................... 64

A4. Appendix 4 Drivers for Change............................................................................................. 65

A4.1. Strategic Drivers for Change ............................................................................................. 65

A4.2. Financial Drivers for Change ............................................................................................. 65

A4.3. Non Financial Drivers for Change ..................................................................................... 66

A4.4. Technological Drivers for Change ..................................................................................... 67

A5. Appendix 5 Programme Risks .............................................................................................. 68

A6. Appendix 6 Information Assurance ...................................................................................... 78



1. Purpose of Document

The G-Cloud, Government Applications Store and Data Centre Consolidation Phase 2
programme started on 5 October 2009 and will run till 12 February 2010. The programme
comprises seven workstrands and a Programme Office function. These workstrands have
been staffed by a mix of civil servants, consultants and industry volunteers.

This document provides a Vision of how the G-Cloud, Government Applications Store and
Data Centre Consolidation will deliver ICT services to the Public Sector. The Vision builds on
the Government Data Centre Strategy Phase 1 Report produced by Phase 1 of the
programme; it is also based on the Government ICT Strategy.

The Vision should be used by stakeholders to gain an overview and high level understanding
of G-Cloud.

The Vision is underpinned by further documents which provide more detail in addition to that
provided in the Vision, these include:

Commercial Strategy
Technical Architecture Strategy
Information Assurance Strategy
Service Management Framework Approach
Service Specification
Transition Approach
Business Plan



2. Introduction

The Government Data Centre Strategy Programme Phase 1 identified the desirability of
consolidating existing public sector data centres and creating a private government
computing cloud (G-Cloud) for the public sector. This document describes the Vision of how
a consolidated set of public sector data centres and a G-Cloud would provide ICT services to
the public sector. It will be used by Phase 2 of the Data Centre Consolidation, G-Cloud and
Applications Store programme to develop more detailed business case and plans,
specifications, architectures and a transition strategy for and to the G-Cloud.

UK Government currently has an extensive and disparate ICT estate supporting the delivery
of services. The emergence of cloud computing and new application delivery models offer
the opportunity to consolidate and improve this existing ICT estate through provision of
standard, commodity ICT services to the whole of the public sector through a government
cloud (G-Cloud).

The government will develop an integrated set of strategies for consolidation of existing data
centres in the public sector, delivery of ICT services through a government cloud (G-Cloud)
and the development of an Application Store for purchase of G-Cloud services.

These strategies will address a number of government objectives:

Reduction of ICT costs
- A sustainable reduction in the operational costs of ICT across public sector to
contribute to the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) savings target for
ICT

- The reduction in cost will include a lower cost associated with future change
in ICT service provider specifically the cost of transition to a new provider

Improve government services and agility through use of ICT
- To support a better citizen experience of government services by allowing
government to provide new ICT services faster to meet citizen needs

- Enabling improved responsiveness to ministerial and business generated
changes through faster deployment of ICT services

Reduction of carbon footprint due to Government ICT services
- Through consolidating and optimising use of existing spare ICT capacity and
decommissioning unused capacity

- Adoption of more carbon efficient technology



Improve data centre services
- By removing known issues in existing infrastructure including lack of
resilience and known security concerns

Align with other Government thinking
- Including supporting the objectives of Digital Britain through the deployment
of ICT services and creation of a new market for government ICT services

- Integrating with wider Government ICT initiatives e.g. PSN, Desktop Strategy
to ensure that the overall government ICT Strategy is supported by the G-
Cloud

In order to implement the G-Cloud and support these strategies a set of multi dimensional
changes will need to occur:

Technical – implementation of a G-Cloud architecture covering applications , data
management storage and security services;
Process – implementation of processes to use and manage G-Cloud services;
Commercial – implementation of a commercial framework to permit contracting of
services from the G-Cloud; and
Cultural – a shift to sharing and re-use of ICT services from the G-Cloud
The remainder of this document describes the Vision for Datacentre Consolidation, G-Cloud
and Application Store which will meet these objectives. The services described will be
available to all UK public sector organisations from small bodies through to major central
government departments. The Vision described is for 10 years hence, although many
aspects of the Vision can be implemented within 2 years.



3. Why Use Cloud Computing in the Public Sector

Why should the Public Sector adopt Cloud Computing? What will a new model for delivery of
ICT to the Public Sector bring? Is Cloud computing dependent on new and untried
technology? In this section these questions are answered and why the new model proposed
for ICT in the Public Sector must be implemented is explained.

3.1. Public Sector ICT Landscape

Public Sector ICT has developed to meet the needs of specific public bodies, with limited
sharing of resources, this approach has led to duplication and excess capacity with ICT
system silos in individual public bodies.

Public Sector ICT is now subject to a number of significant drivers for change. These drivers
range from budgetary pressures to ensuring the UK is at the leading edge of the global
digital economy.

3.1.1. Budgetary Pressures

In April 2009, HM Treasury published the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) Final
Report which estimated that overall savings of around 20 per cent of the estimated £16
billion annual Public Sector ICT expenditure (£3.2 billion) should be achievable without
compromising the quality of frontline public services. These savings must now be found by
delivering ICT services more efficiently.

3.1.2. Green Agenda

Government runs some of the world‟s largest computer systems and is Britain‟s largest
purchaser of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This technology is used to
improve the lives of millions of people and can enable smarter ways of working to reduce
carbon. However, this same technology is a major consumer of energy and natural
resources. UK government has made a number of sustainable operational commitments:

Central government office estate will achieve carbon neutrality by 2012;
UK to reduce greenhouse gases by 26% or more by 2020, 60% by 2050; and
Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets.



ICT globally emits comparable levels of carbon to the aviation industry, and emissions
continue to grow. Recognising this, the Greening Government ICT Strategy set two
challenging targets which support delivery of mandatory SOGE (Sustainability on the
Government Estate) targets:
government ICT will be carbon neutral by 2012, and
carbon neutral across its lifecycle by 2020.
In order to deliver on these commitments delivery of ICT services to the Public Sector in new
more energy efficient ways which support the Government‟s climate change agenda need to
be developed and implemented.

3.1.3. Digital Britain

The delivery of services to the public by ICT enables wider Government aims for the UK in
the global digital economy and citizen engagement. The Government in the Digital Britain
Report (June 2009) identifies the need for the UK to be at the leading edge of the global
digital economy. The Report also states that “an ambitious and clear programme of The
Digital Switchover of Public Services, to primarily electronic and online delivery, will
unlock significant cost savings, whilst at the same time serving to increase levels of
satisfaction”. The achievement of these aims will require a step change in the efficiency of
ICT procurement and delivery by the Public Sector.

3.1.4. ICT Procurement

Government procurements are overseen by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
which has an objective of ensuring the Government gets best value from its spending and
that procurements support the Government‟s sustainability agenda.

Currently the procurement and delivery of ICT programmes in the Public Sector is a lengthy
and costly process. Procurement of large ICT systems can take in excess of 12 months. The
cost of this procurement cycle for both the Public Sector and Suppliers is significant. The
length of time involved means that ICT services in support of new Government policies can
rarely be deployed in the timescale best suited to support the policy. A more agile method of
procuring and delivering ICT in the Public Sector is needed.

These constraints affect Local and Regional Government in addition to central Government.

The OGC is seeking ways in which government procurements can become more efficient
and quicker while supporting sustainability.



3.1.5. ICT Strategy for Government

The CIO Council agreed the overall ICT strategy for Government in summer 2009.

This ICT Strategy supports existing core public sector goals, set in Digital Britain, Building
Britain‟s Future, Excellence and fairness, and the Operational Efficiency Programme:

improving public service delivery
improving access to public services, and
increasing the efficiency of public service delivery

At the heart of the strategy is the creation of a common, secure and flexible infrastructure
that is available across the public sector. It comprises the strands depicted below:



There are 14 strands making up the strategy:

1. The Public Sector Network Strategy - Rationalising and standardising to create a
„network of networks‟, enabling secure fixed and mobile communications for greater
capability at a lower price.
2. The Government Cloud (G-Cloud) - Rationalising the government ICT estate, using
cloud computing to increase capability and security, reduce costs and accelerate
deployment speeds.
3. The Data Centre Strategy - Rationalising data centres to reduce costs while
increasing resilience and capability.
4. The Government Applications Store (G-AS) - Enabling faster procurement, greater
innovation, higher speed to deliver outcomes and reduced costs.
5. Shared services, moving systems to the Government Cloud - Continually moving
to shared services delivered through the Government Cloud for common activities.
6. The Common Desktop Strategy - Simplifying and standardising desktop designs
using common models to enhance interoperability and deliver greater capability at a
lower price.
7. Architecture and standards - Creating an environment that enables many suppliers
to work together, cooperate and interoperate in a secure, seamless and cost-efficient
way.
8. The Open Source, Open Standards and Reuse Strategy - Levelling the playing
field for procurement, enabling greater reuse of existing tools, fewer procurement
exercises and enhanced innovation – all at a lower cost.
9. The Greening Government ICT Strategy - Delivering sustainable, more efficient
ICT at a lower price.
10. Information Security and Assurance Strategy - Protecting data (citizen and
business) from harm – whether accidental or malicious.
11. Professionalising IT-enabled change - Improving the capabilities, knowledge, skills
and experience of those involved in ICT-enabled business change through the
Government IT Profession.
12. Reliable project delivery - Using portfolio management and active benefits
management to ensure that government undertakes the right projects in the right
ways.
13. Supply management - Working together to gain maximum value from suppliers –
both for individual organisations and collectively across the public sector.
14. International alignment and coordination - Ensuring that international treaties and
directives reflect UK national requirements and that the UK remains at the forefront of
delivery.



3.1.6. Quality of Data Centres

The Data Centre Strategy Report produced by the Strategic Supply Board for the Government CIO
Council in September 2009 had a number of findings including:

There is a major opportunity for government to make significant cost savings whilst
delivering improved agility, flexibility, resilience, security and environmental
sustainability. High level analysis suggests a reduction in ICT data centre
infrastructure costs will deliver a net £900 million of cost savings over 5 years, with
recurrent savings of more than £300m a year thereafter;
There are significant variations within the current estate that are not justified by
differences in business needs, which will be rationalised by the approach proposed
in this Vision;
Other organisations have successfully delivered major ICT consolidation
programmes to create a dynamic ICT infrastructure and there is considerable
experience to draw on;
The challenges in consolidating ICT infrastructure are organisational and cultural
rather than technical; and
There is the potential for further cost saving and operational benefits by delivering a
government private Cloud (G-Cloud) in addition to data centre consolidation.

3.2. Developments in the ICT Industry

Recent developments in ICT have made it possible to consolidate ICT Infrastructure in a way
that delivers increased flexibility and responsiveness to business needs whilst reducing
costs. This change involves a move from ICT being provided individually by organisations
procuring their own separate ICT infrastructure, to a new model in which ICT is provided as
a utility which is known as “Cloud Computing”. Over the last few years consumer facing firms
delivering products in large volumes have adopted Cloud computing.

Cloud computing is most frequently cited as providing ICT “as a service” to customers using
a utility model over a network. Cloud computing offers a commercial model of “pay as you
use” thus avoiding the capital expenditure usually associated with provision of ICT. The
flexibility provided by Cloud computing has enabled its rapid growth and a corresponding
lowering of costs. Cloud services can be either infrastructure or application services.

At the core of the Cloud computing model are 3 principles:

simplification and standardisation of ICT infrastructure;
automated processes to support activities such as change management and service
reporting; and



enabling of Software as a Service (SaaS) through standards and multi tenanting of
services.
Cloud application services are applications delivered as a service via a network to a browser
front end. Cloud application services usually require the creation of a multitenant architecture
where one application supports many firms or organisations, but provides a unique view for
each. Cloud applications are often SaaS, but not all SaaS applications are cloud application
services. SaaS applications delivered as single-tenant applications on dedicated
infrastructures are not Cloud application services.

Large corporate firms which have implemented Cloud computing report:

ICT cost reductions of 40-65%;
improved agility in implementing strategy with ICT support; and
improved speed in implementing changes to support business needs.
Public Cloud services are gaining in acceptance by corporate world and the Public Cloud
providers are increasing their capacity and services. Amazon has 1000 staff involved in
developing their Public Cloud offering. Early concerns of the market regarding the security
and service levels offered by Public Clouds are being taken very seriously and
improvements have been made in these areas with further improvements planned. However
a number of firms have decided to setup a Cloud computing model in house, creating a
private cloud for use only within their organisation. This provides a number of advantages:

Cloud services can be tailored to the firm‟s requirements;
security is under the control and monitoring of the organisation; and
end to end service levels are easier to achieve.



3.2.1. Will G-Cloud Deliver?

The G-Cloud model can bring many beneficial changes to the delivery of ICT across the
Public Sector but will it really deliver? In the section below how Cloud computing has the
foundations and track record to succeed is described.

3.2.2. Will Cloud Computing Happen?

What is the evidence that Cloud computing is becoming a standard ICT delivery model:

Large ICT Services Suppliers have invested in the implementation of large global
public clouds;
The ICT industry itself is migrating to the use of clouds to deliver in house ICT
services; and
Private sector organisations are adopting Cloud computing to deliver ICT services.

3.2.3. Can the benefits be delivered?

What is the evidence that the key elements of the G-Cloud – Cloud computing, Data Centre
Consolidation and Software as a Service (SaaS) are capable of delivering the promised
benefits:

Bechtel have adopted a cloud computing model with a resulting saving of 60% on
their ICT costs;
In a data centre consolidation programme Hewlett-Packard have reduced the number
of data centres globally from 85 to just 6;
IBM have reduced their data centres globally from 155 to 7; and
Telegraph Media Group has used SaaS to
- make new functionality available without complex software upgrades
- pay only for the computing power needed
- lower total cost of ownership of ICT.
However in order to gain the benefits of Cloud computing the Public Sector will need to
adopt a new approach to ICT services. The existing approach of defining and procuring
bespoke systems which meet the specific needs of a department will need to shift to an
approach which makes use of standard or generic systems which are available at lower cost
and adapts the processes of the department to use the system.



The commercial potential of cloud computing and cloud services is widely accepted, both in
private industry and in the public sector. The opportunities for cost reduction and efficiency
in the UK public sector are real and achievable, but require significant changes to
procurement practices, delivery frameworks and across the supplier landscape.

A pre-requisite for realisation of the commercial objectives are a set of UK Government
technical & operational standards that can define the G-Cloud based on a (significant)
number of competing infrastructural service providers operating at any appropriate security
level.

However Government has a significant legacy of applications which exhibit many pre-cloud
symptoms, including low server utilisation and high operational costs. It must be understood
that the cloud computing and cloud sourcing paradigms do not always directly lead to
reduced costs - the real challenge will be to ensure that sufficient economy of scale and
standardisation is reached quickly enough to deliver a net saving.

3.2.4. Does G-Cloud depend on leading edge technology?

Does the G-Cloud depend on new and untried technologies which mean that the Public
Sector must take on significant technology risks in its implementation?

In fact the innovation of the G-Cloud model is in its approach to the governance and
management of ICT in the Public Sector rather than the deployment of new technology.

Cloud computing is based on significant amounts of existing technology. Specific aspects of
the G-Cloud may require new technologies but this will not be the norm for the majority of
the G-Cloud if a prudent approach to its design is implemented.

Instead for G-Cloud to be successful Public Sector leadership will need to encourage
existing ICT services to be re-used where possible avoiding bespoke solutions to common
challenges across the Public Sector.

The successful introduction and implementation of the G-Cloud is a leadership not a
technology challenge.

3.2.5. Key Risks

The programme must manage effectively a number of risks in order to deliver the G-Cloud
benefits. These risks cover a number of key areas including: Commercial, Information
Assurance, Technical Architecture, Organisation and Governance.

The full list of key risks to delivery of the programme are listed in Appendix 5. However a
number of key risks are highlighted in the following sections.

3.3.9.1 Commercial

A Commercial approach will be implemented which manages the following risks:

Current resource constrained environment prevents up front investment for G-Cloud
becoming available;



Pricing and contractual framework for the G-Cloud is attractive to Public Sector but
discourages suppliers from making services available on the G-Cloud;

Business case may double count savings with other Public Sector programmes;

Procurement regulations do not allow additional consumers after initial procurement
of the service; and

Take up of G-Cloud proceeds too slowly so benefits will not be significant enough to
attract Public Sector organisations in future.

3.3.9.2 Information Assurance

An Information Assurance approach will be implemented which manages the following risks:

Aggregation of data in G-Cloud raising IL levels beyond 4 and preventing use of G-
Cloud services by public bodies with lower IL infrastructure; and

Common infrastructure and shared nature of G-Cloud cannot be assured by
departmental SIRO model and so are not accredited.

In addition the challenges of situational awareness on the G-Cloud will require approaches
to be developed during the implementation of the G-Cloud.

More details of the Information Assurance principles and approach to risks are provided in
Section 5.3 and Appendix 6.

3.3.9.3 Technical Architecture

A Technical Architecture for the G-Cloud will be developed which manages the risk that
adoption of G-Cloud “locks” the Public Sector into a particular vendor‟s proprietary standards
as industry standards for Cloud technologies are not currently agreed

3.3.9.4 Organisation and Governance

An Organisation and Governance approach will be implemented which manages the
following risks:

G-Cloud is not taken up or deployed effectively across the Public Sector due to de-
centralised nature of ICT governance in the Public Sector; and

Senior stakeholders may not support the implementation of the G-Cloud.

3.3.9.5 Public Sector Network

The G-Cloud programme will have a number of dependencies on the Public Sector Network
programme. Programme managements will work together to ensure that these
dependencies are managed or mitigated in order that the G-Cloud is implemented as
planned.



3.3. Benefits

The new world of the G-Cloud offering utility computing from consolidated data centres and
encouraging re-use of ICT assets through the Government Applications Store will bring a
comprehensive set of benefits across the Public Sector ICT landscape.

3.3.1. Budgetary Pressures

The G-Cloud will deliver a fundamental contribution to the cost savings for OEP and will
facilitate and accelerate the OEP targets. This will be achieved by:

Data Centre Consolidation
- Reduced hardware maintenance, server capital expenditure, and power
consumption through more efficient and better utilised infrastructure.
- Reduced up-front investment costs through standardisation and sharing of
assets.
- Reduced estate footprint through site sales/repurposing of accommodation.
G-Cloud
- Reduced capital investment in computer infrastructure through utility-based
rental of computing and processing time.
- Reduced server purchase costs through virtualisation of servers across
departments leading to higher utilisation rates
- Reduced data recovery costs through fewer dedicated DR facilities.
Government Applications Store
- Reduced bespoke application development through reuse of existing
components.
- Reduced application purchase prices through economies of scale.
- Reduced licensing costs through licensing consolidation and reuse.
- Reduced investment costs through SaaS pay for use model
- Volume discounts achieved by purchasers apply to all public sector bodies
already using the service

3.3.2. Green Agenda

The G-Cloud will lead to more efficient use of ICT by the Public Sector so lowering the
carbon emissions associated with delivering ICT services:

Consolidation of data centres will reduce footprint of building estate;



Virtualisation will drive higher server utilisation reducing server footprint; and
Re-use of ICT assets will lower development and project resources used to
implement new services and systems.
The G-Cloud will also facilitate smarter ways of working through integration of government
information and data sources, further reducing government‟s environmental impact and
carbon footprint.

3.3.3. Digital Britain

The G-Cloud will deliver greater agility and speed in the delivery of policy and services,
underpinned by the adoption of shared infrastructure at lower cost. The agility will result from
the ability to re-use existing assets and the new commercial model reducing procurement
timescales and costs.

The G-Cloud will through the Government Applications Store create a marketplace with a
low cost of entry to new and small ICT suppliers encouraging the development of new UK
ICT businesses and supporting the UK‟s position in the digital world.

3.3.4. ICT Procurement

The commercial model of the G-Cloud will be based on pre agreed frameworks. This will
remove the need for lengthy and costly procurements. This will reduce costs for both the
Public Sector and Suppliers. In addition the Public Sector will be able to deliver ICT services
faster in support of policy.

Procurement law will apply to the G-Cloud, and all normal rules will need to be followed. It
will be important to get this right at the outset. This is particularly the case given the arrival
of the regulations implementing the Remedies Directive on 20 December 2009. This puts an
increasing emphasis on the use of legally compliant procurement vehicles.

3.3.5. Current Initiatives

The G-Cloud will complement and support the implementation of existing Public Sector
programmes:

PSN: the G-Cloud will offer PSN a route to market through the Government
Applications Store. In addition the G-Cloud will use PSN services to connect users to
G-Cloud services.
Strategic Desktop: the G-Cloud will provide ICT services for the Strategic Desktop



3.3.6. Quality of Data Centres

Existing data centre space and infrastructure will be rationalised into a smaller set of secure
physical data centres – these will host both the G-Cloud and existing legacy applications
during the migration period. The outcome will be a significantly smaller footprint in highly
virtualised shared data centres which meet government standards for resilience, security
and sustainability at an overall lower cost. This will result not only in a reduction in the costs
of data centres but also in the risks of disruption to delivery of ICT services to the Public
Sector.

3.3.7. ICT Market

The market for Cloud services, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS is expanding; the G-Cloud and
Government Applications Store will offer the Public Sector the opportunity to access this
market. The expansion of this market will provide the Public Sector with new services and
greater competition will help to that these services will be cost efficient.



4. The New World of G-Cloud

The G-Cloud, Government Applications Store and consolidation of existing public sector
data centres are all components of the new model for delivery of public sector ICT services.
The G-Cloud will provide a variety of infrastructure and application services for the public
sector. The Government Applications Store will provide a “portal” to purchase G-Cloud
services. The consolidation of existing data centres will provide both a modern and fit for
purpose environment for the public sector ICT while at the same ensuring that excess data
centre capacity is reduced to meet government cost saving and carbon emission reduction
targets.

These services will be offered both from a UK government specific cloud (G-Cloud) and from
public clouds. Services from the public clouds will be used where the public cloud service
offers appropriate levels of security, service levels and performance for public sector use. It
is anticipated that the levels of security on the G-Cloud will support higher impact levels than
on the public clouds.

The vision is for G-Cloud services to be accessed via the Public Sector Network (PSN) from
the strategic government desktop although in the short term other existing public sector
networks and desktops may be used to access the G-Cloud.



4.1. G-Cloud

G-Cloud: “bringing utility convenience to public sector ICT – shared, flexible, agile,
transparent and efficient allocation of ICT when it’s needed, through sharing standardised
resources to reduce costs”

The G-Cloud is the delivery of Public Sector ICT by a shared secure “utility” style ICT
services infrastructure, underpinned by a new commercial model enabling public bodies to
have the option to pay only for the service at the time when they use it. This approach is now
developing rapidly and is known as “Cloud Computing”. It is enabled by common standards,
and by heavily automated secure business processes that enable substantial reductions in
costs.

“G-Cloud” is the Public Sector brand for the use of certified cloud computing.

There will be 3 main categories of G-Cloud branded services:-

Software as a Service (SaaS) which includes managed services, common, utility and
custom services, all of which can be configured for use by many Public Sector
bodies;
Platform as a Service (PaaS) will be will be used to provide a platform for creating
new business applications based on shared re-usable components. The platform
offered will be approved and overseen by the CTO Council;
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) will provide ICT infrastructure primarily computing
resource and data storage.

The G-Cloud will be a UK Public Sector implementation of “cloud computing” that will provide
both secure, private cloud services and access to certified public cloud services, for example
those provided by Amazon cloud services. These services will range from ICT infrastructure
services through to application and information services and to ICT professional services
such as service management.

The G-Cloud will offer dedicated „private‟ services for public sector organisations, and trusted
public cloud services. The range and sophistication of public cloud services is growing and
more of the Public Sector‟s ICT needs will be met from public clouds as today‟s constraints
are addressed over time. These constraints currently include:-

Information Assurance requirements e.g. data centres are outside the UK;
End to end performance of services from public clouds may not be guaranteed; and
Proprietary standards used by some public clouds create the risk of lock in.

G-Cloud private cloud services will address these constraints, enabling earlier use of the
shared utility model across the public sector. Private G-Cloud services will typically be
provisioned by suppliers using an industry standard platform for example Microsoft Azure,
VMware, or Eucalyptus - an Open Source platform that implements Amazon AWS
standards.



The services offered by the G-Cloud will be defined in a Service Catalogue which any public
sector organisation can use to purchase ICT services. Each service will be described in the
Service Catalogue, its description will include details of the service, service levels offered,
service reports provided, if relevant the increments of capacity offered, time periods or
increments for which the service can be procured and the price of the service.

Services provided by the G-Cloud will be up to security level IL4 only.

In order to provide services in the G-Cloud a supplier will undergo a certification process for
both their organisation and each of their services. This certification process will ensure that
services meet the quality and information assurance requirements of the public sector and
will provide consuming public bodies with the confidence that G-Cloud services are suitable
for supporting provision of services to citizens. The information assurance certification will
represent a partial accreditation, a residual element of accreditation which cannot be carried
out centrally remaining with the consuming organisation.

A public sector body will govern the certification process, overseeing and managing the
approval of suppliers and their services.

4.1.1. Application and Information Services

The G-Cloud will provide a variety of application and information services to the public
sector. These services will vary from the purchase of software licenses to access to
government stores of information where this is appropriate from a statutory and information
assurance perspective. The focus will be on re-use of existing assets and use of commodity
services. Existing common application services where possible will be offered so that public
bodies do not need to develop or commission development of new application services.

Application & Information Services

- ERP - DVLA./IPS
- Flex Desktop Verification
- Gateway (Citizen - Authentication
and Business Services
Authentication) - Correspondence
- Payment of Handling
Grants - Secure Data
- Government Handling (GCHQ)
Banking - CIS (X)
- Government
Vetting

Procurement Strand and Crowd Sourcing



Applications available on the G-Cloud will vary from personal productivity tools through to
complex departmental specific applications which are tightly integrated with their data. The
services available for each class of application will vary.

A large proportion of these applications will already be in use elsewhere in the public sector,
so their provision to other public bodies via the G-Cloud will promote re-use of applications
across government allowing the cost reduction for the public sector through both larger
volume discounts and avoidance of new development costs.

Applications will generally be provided as Software as a Service (SaaS), where the body
using the application will pay using a pay for use model.

Applications will be available on at least two different infrastructure platforms so that public
sector bodies can transfer loads between infrastructure suppliers if required.

The different classes of application are described below:

4.1.1.1. Personal Information Management

These are personal productivity applications where data will be specific to the individual or
body. Examples are Email, Calendaring and Contacts.

4.1.1.2. Interaction
These are applications which support contact and interaction with others. Examples are Peer
to Peer communications and Social Networking applications.

4.1.1.3. Collaboration and Simple Applications
These are applications which either support collaborative working or provide support for
common tasks. Examples are workflow and records management.

4.1.1.4. Resource and Management
These are applications which support public sector staff in their daily duties. Examples are
travel booking and expense claiming applications.

4.1.1.5. Departmental Applications
These are applications with data specific to and useful to a department. Examples are
computer based training or small departmental databases.

4.1.1.6. Data Services
These are applications providing access to data. Examples are management reporting and
access to geographic data.

4.1.1.7. Line of Business (LOB)
These are applications which support the functioning of the public body; they will have data
which is specific to that public body. They will require tuning for a particular department.
Examples are a HR application or a CRM system.

4.1.1.8. Information Access
These are applications provided by a department to other public bodies which give access to
data held by the department. The data will generally be tightly coupled to an application. The



G-Cloud will provide this service as a gateway using CTO Council endorsed G-Cloud
services to connect the two public bodies.

This service will only be permitted where statute allows the data to be shared with the
requesting public body and information assurance requirements for the data are adequately
supported across the G-Cloud.

An example of this service is CISx from the DWP.

4.1.2. Infrastructure and Platform Services

The G-Cloud will provide a variety of ICT infrastructure and platform services to the public
sector. These services will be based on a layered architecture model, and are standardised
to widen their applicability to multiple public sector consumers.

Database

Operating System
IL Level Options
Service Level

Resilience

CPU Processor Power

Memory Capacity

Disk, SAN or offline storage

Environment (space, air conditioning & power only)

A public body will be able to purchase services at multiple layers. For example on one
occasion the body could purchase a server capacity service onto which the body loads its
own operating system and database. On another occasion the body may choose to
purchase a database service into which the supplier has packaged underlying operating
system and server capacity.

Data across the Public Sector continues to expand. A key infrastructure service offering will
be storage services for data, such as SAN services. This offering will enable public bodies
to access and store their data cost effectively in resilient, secure storage, with the ability to
expand or contract the capacity without major capital investment in their ICT infrastructure.

There is an opportunity for greater development of services for Data Management, Storage
and Security separately from services provided for applications processing. This Data
Capability can become a long-term asset in that applications can be chosen accordingly to
meet a given organisations current business priorities.

The G-Cloud will provide data services for storage and management of:
Operational data;



Management Information data for analysis and reporting; and

Archive data for storage.

Database services are becoming common in cloud computing, so in addition database
services will be offered as part of G-Cloud, providing structured storage of data. This service
will enable public bodies to access and use data to support new business services. The G-
Cloud will implement standards that will enable wider, but secure and legislatively permitted
shared access to data resources with other Public Sector bodies where there is a policy
decision to do so.

More detail on G-Cloud data services are provided in Section 4.1.3 Data in the G-Cloud.

In order to ensure that services in the G-Cloud are available from multiple suppliers the
services available will conform to open and industry standards for ICT components. The
capacity of services will be measured using industry standard units.

Services will be defined so that varying levels of resilience, service levels and support allow
consumers to purchase services to host business services of varying priority to the public
body involved. In addition this differentiation will allow the purchase of services with high
levels of resilience and superior service levels for production systems while more cost
effective services with lower service levels are available for development and test services.

Specific specifications of services for purposes such as Disaster Recovery will also be
available.

4.1.3. Data Services on the G-Cloud

Data is one of the key assets of the Public Sector. As it develops, the G-Cloud will become
the repository of a significant portion of Public Sector data. Data also persists beyond an
application, with migration between applications being required as the application stack
changes.

Cloud providers are addressing the new challenges and opportunities management of data
in a cloud environment offers:

Microsoft has implemented cloud-based data platforms which seek to provide a
database service which meets the needs of primarily network based application
access;

Cisco are offering SAN consolidation services and security approaches for multiple
organisation use of SANs;

Amazon offers database services including tools which are scalable to meet the
needs of cloud services; and

Other suppliers are developing data and database services for the cloud.



The continuing expansion of data is a key challenge for Public Sector ICT. The G-Cloud will
provide access to a cost effective, secure and resilient data storage capacity which can be
expanded or contracted rapidly in accordance with business needs of the Public Sector.

In addition the G-Cloud can provide database services which will allow access to structured
data which can be used to support new business services.

The Public Sector will draw on G-Cloud data services for storage and management of:

Operational data;

Management Information data for analysis and reporting; and

Archive data for storage.

The management of this data by the G-Cloud will encompass its complete lifecycle including:

creation or migration onto the G-Cloud;

monitoring of growth including provision of additional storage capacity as needed

protection through appropriate resilience and security;

migration to cost effective storage facilities as full operational use ceases; and

archival or secure destruction at end of life.

The G-Cloud will offer data services which enable wider, but secure and legislatively
permitted access to this resource across the Public Sector.

The development of data standards for the G-Cloud will support widening of access and
ease of data transfer at contract termination for public bodies.

Data is currently often tightly coupled with a business application within a public body‟s ICT
estate. However as data usually persists beyond the life of the application, transition from a
legacy application to a new or enhanced application can involve an expensive and time
consuming activity of data transfer including data structure changes to fit with the new
application‟s requirements. The definition of data standards for G-Cloud which recognise
data persistence has the potential to reduce the amount of effort to migrate data.

In addition the G-Cloud offers the potential to make existing data assets more widely
available across the Public Sector. Capitalising on this potential will require the G-Cloud to
define data standards and a data strategy. A Data Strategy will be developed in Phase 3 of
the programme.

The G-Cloud will offer data services which are compliant with the security and the legislative
constraints that data held in the Public Sector must operate under.

The Public Sector is already adopting standards to make Public Sector data more available
in line with the objectives of bodies such as the National Archives and with the launch of
data.gov.uk. G-Cloud data strategy and standards will be aligned with the existing public
sector work.



However data obtained by the Public Sector must only be used in the manner allowed and
specified by the associated legislation, the strategy for data and the operational controls of
the G-Cloud will ensure that data is not accessed or shared in violation of this principle. This
will require the storage of data in separated infrastructure storage areas. The G-Cloud will
data tools to permit the wider sharing of appropriate data in a controlled manner.

4.1.4. Professional ICT Services

A number of professional services will be provided to support the delivery of G-Cloud
components and to aggregate services from components available on the G-Cloud.

4.1.4.1. Service Management Services

Both suppliers and larger public bodies will offer service management services on the G-
Cloud. This service will manage the overall delivery of services from the G-Cloud so that an
integrated and consistent operational service is provided. These services will include the
service management of operational services such as change management, incident
management and service reporting. The service management will be based on a common
industry accepted framework such as ITIL. This will enable suppliers of service components
to use a standard method for interaction with the service integrator and public sector
consumers. These services will be of particular value to smaller public bodies with limited
ICT expertise available in their organisation.

4.1.4.2. System Integration Services

These services will provide public bodies with services which will integrate G-Cloud
components into coherent services which can be consumed by a public sector body.

4.1.5. Exclusions from G-Cloud Scope

The G-Cloud will provide a wide range of ICT and business services across all of the Public
Sector. These services will be made available over time in line with the G-Cloud roadmap.
The initial G-Cloud services will therefore be limited in range and coverage across Public
Sector compared to the end Vision for G-Cloud.

However even in the final Vision the scope of G-Cloud and Government Applications Store
does not include:

Services which are not ICT services or business services not supported primarily by
ICT systems, for example
- Facilities management;
- Catering services;
- Stationary procurement;



Development of services which are already provided by other strategic Government
projects such as PSN or common desktop, although these services may be
purchased through the Government Applications Store;
IL5 IL5 and above are not provided in the G-Cloud, although such services may be
co-located in the data centres from which G-Cloud services are provided. However
only those elements of an application which are at IL 5 and above are excluded from
G-Cloud, lower security rated components of the application can be hosted within the
G-Cloud;
Legacy services of limited life or applicability which would not justify cost of migration
to G-Cloud;
Making G-Cloud services available to the private sector, eg commercial firms except
for the creation of composite services for resale to the Public Sector, for example
providing infrastructure services to a software house so that it can provide a
complete application service to a set of public bodies; and
Making G-Cloud services available to foreign governments.

There are no exclusions to the Data Centre Consolidation at this stage, However as detailed
design and planning continues it may be necessary to exclude overseas locations due to
reliance on network capacity and information assurance considerations.

4.2. Government Applications Store

Government Applications Store: “enabling faster, more cost-effective and more consistent
certified ICT enabled solutions to business challenges through reusing and sharing
applications and services”

The Government Applications Store is the Public Sector ICT marketplace to readily source,
share and promote Managed Services, Utility Services and Common Services. It will include
Infrastructure components and services aswell as application and business solutions. Only
where existing services cannot meet a public body‟s requirements will Custom Services to
create a new service be available.

The services available will include private G-Cloud services, certified public cloud and other
ICT Services (eg COTS); and other public sector ICT services such as PSN services.

Services available through the Government Applications Store will be certified to
demonstrate their compliance to Public Sector standards and requirements. The commercial
framework of the Government Application Store will allow purchasers to buy certified
services from an on-line catalogue under a cross public sector framework contract. The
scope, service levels, security accreditation and price of the services will be available for
review and comparison by potential purchasers. Services will be paid for on a per use or
subscription basis. The latest price achieved for the service will be shown to purchasers,
however if subsequently a lower price for this service is achieved by another organisation
then this will be made available to all subscribers of the service - from the point at which the
new lower price is achieved.



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The Government Applications Store will provide a portal for public bodies purchasing
services from the G-Cloud. Open Source software and services will be available in the
Government Applications Store encouraging cost effective services to be provided in this
market.

While the Government Applications Store will have a centrally managed „master catalogue‟,
there will be the capability to configure views of the catalogue for specific communities, for
example to enable focus on services most relevant to a particular type of organisation, or to
„gray out‟ services which are not funded by the user‟s organisation. There will also be the
ability to support „Communities of Interest‟, encouraging public sector organisations and
individuals to innovate by creating/configuring and then sharing locally generated
applications. „Closed loop‟ feedback will provide visibility of what‟s working, enabling future
trial and purchasing decisions to be informed by others‟ experiences.

Certification of a service will include review and approval of its information assurance,
service management and commercial elements.

In order to avoid “lock in” to a particular infrastructure provider there will be a choice of at
least two infrastructure providers for each application. In principle purchasers will be able to
transfer their chosen application service to another infrastructure provider if required at some
future point, although this may involve some data migration activity.



Following selection of the application and infrastructure provider, the purchased service will
be provisioned through an automated process in the public body‟s infrastructure and data
context.

The Government Applications Store will continually be updated with new services. It will be
an open marketplace encouraging new suppliers to join the existing community of ICT
suppliers to the public sector. In order to support new suppliers joining a prototyping facility
will be available on the Government Applications Store. The prototyping facility will allow a
supplier to offer free for a period a new service without complete certification. If this service
is taken up by public bodies the supplier will be able to subsequently “upgrade” the service
to certified and chargeable. This will provide an agile way for new and smaller suppliers to
trial new services and join the Government Applications Store. Services that add new value
will be welcomed into the portfolio provided they meet the minimum assurance requirements
– the approach will be „light touch‟ and will emphasise validating service outcomes rather
than auditing the detailed implementation approach.

The Government Applications Store will also list requests for new services from public
bodies. Suppliers and other public bodies will be able to review these requests and decide
whether they wish to provide the suggested service. If new services are created in response
to the requests they will be required to undergo certification before being made available on
the Application Store.

The public sector body will be responsible for identifying in advance:

which services users in the body can purchase;

which users are allowed to purchase services; and

which disallowed services can be seen by users. So that if necessary a user
can raise a request/justification for a currently unapproved for purchase
service to be made available for purchase within their public body.

The Government Applications Store will be designed so that potential purchasers of services
are directed to existing managed services, then common and utility services only if these
sources do not yield a satisfactory option will the purchaser be able to commission a custom
solution, which must meet G-Cloud certification standards. This approach will encourage re-
use of existing services, thereby reducing cost for the public sector by preventing
unnecessary development of new applications and maximising volume discounts with
existing Suppliers.



4.3. Data Centre Consolidation

Data Centre Consolidation: “delivering public sector ICT services from the optimum
number of high performing, energy-efficient, cost-effective and standards-based data
centres”

Existing data centre space and infrastructure will be rationalised into a smaller set of secure
physical data centres – these will host both the G-Cloud and existing legacy applications
during the migration period. The outcome will be a significantly smaller footprint in highly
virtualised shared data centres which meet government standards for resilience, security
and sustainability at an overall lower cost.

Consolidation can commence through inviting suppliers that currently operate multiple data
centres for the public sector to consolidate to two each, with the savings achievable through
estate and virtualisation rebated to their public sector clients. As existing contracts expire,
replacement G-Cloud services can then be sourced from the Government Applications Store
where available;- where not contract renewal can be used to drive provision of additional G-
Cloud services as the preferred choice. During the transition period some unique residual
needs will need to be sourced via a conventional procurement exercise.

All services delivered from existing facilities will be analysed to identify those which may be
discontinued, combined, re-engineered or replaced in order to improve service delivery
efficiency and lower the risk exposure on delivery of public sector ICT services.

Consolidation will focus on removing data centres with significant issues:

Lack of resilience;

Security concerns;

Lack of capacity (space or power); and

Situated in areas of risk eg sited on a floodplain so at risk of flooding.

Consolidation will include implementing the Phase 1 recommendation that a set of
mandatory minimum standards for data centre security and resilience across government
are produced and that the consolidated data centres adhere to these standards.

Substandard data centres will be addressed either by improvement of the facility or transition
of its load to a more appropriate facility. Adoption of a transition approach will only be carried
out where transition costs do not outweigh benefits of the transition.

The data centre consolidation will provide a set of modern, resilient, secure data centres.
The data centres will be a mix of private and government owned but will be managed to
meet requirements across government and provide services to the G-Cloud. They will make
services available to government and application providers on a fair and flexible basis. This
approach which fosters competition will be underpinned by appropriate technical and
commercial arrangements.



A set of the data centres will remain outside the G-Cloud to provide specific non commodity
type services that the G-Cloud is not designed to provide. An example of these services
would be where a public body requires services at IL 5 or IL 6 security level.

It is intended that Data Centre Consolidation will be progressed through three parallel
projects which will;

Consolidate Public Sector owned Data Centres

Consolidate Private Sector owned or operated Data Centres

Procure new services from the market both for infrastructure and Data Centre
facility services

A standard benchmark (e.g. Rack as a Service) will be established to enable the comparison
of the cost and quality of facilities from the various sourcing routes.

4.4. Organisation and Governance in the world of G-Cloud

The G-Cloud involves substantial change from today‟s ICT delivery model; - public sector CIO
teams will shift from managing the whole ICT lifecycle, to the selection and integration of
relevant services. Retained ICT organisations will be able to increase focus on business
engagement and achieving value adding outcomes as less effort will be needed on
infrastructure management.

Technical standards for the G-Cloud will be controlled by the CTO Council through the cross
government Enterprise Architecture (xGEA). A regulator/authority will be responsible for:

Maintenance of standards applicable to services including security

Certification of suppliers and supplier services

The delivery of services on the G-Cloud will conform to a comprehensive service
management framework based on ITIL. This framework will cover the management of
processes such as:

Change Management

Incident Management

Service Reporting

Larger government departments may interact directly with suppliers on the G-Cloud,
however for many public sector bodies a Service Manager will provide a service
management service which ensures that the body has an integrated set of services from the
G-Cloud and that delivery of these services is managed.



Department C
Department B

Department A
Service Regulatory
Service Management or Authority
Management Body
responsible
for
Standards
Service Catalogue and
Certification

G- Cloud

Application Infrastructure Professional
Services Services Services

The options for organisation and governance in the G-Cloud are being developed by the G-
Cloud Phase 2 programme.


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