One Government Value Agreement: Accelerating cloud adoption and innovation across UK government

A new agreement between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the UK government will accelerate adoption of cloud computing in the public sector while saving taxpayer money, boosting digital skills across the civil service, and increasing the diversity of suppliers to the government by helping more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take part in public sector contracts.

The agreement, called the “One Government Value Agreement” (OGVA), is a three-year, Memorandum of Understanding between AWS and the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). By treating participating UK government and public sector organisations as a single client, it offers greater cost savings for cloud deployments, similar to those available to large commercial customers. As part of the agreement, AWS is also establishing a new digital skills fund, which will train over 6,000 civil servants in cloud computing at no cost to government.

Simon Tse, chief executive of the Crown Commercial Service, said, “CCS provides commercial agreements which help organisations across the entire public sector save time and money on buying everyday goods and services. This agreement with AWS demonstrates excellent value for the public sector organisations we serve, and supports them in their drive to improve services for citizens across the UK.”

The OGVA will also further strengthen AWS’s contribution to boosting the diversity of suppliers to the public sector, as services through the agreement can be also contracted through any qualified member of the AWS Partner Network (APN). Through the government’s G-Cloud framework, more than 150 companies have already used AWS to help them provide more than £1.3bn of their own services to government. More than half of these companies are categorised as SMEs, and the OGVA is instrumental in leveling the playing field even further by enabling these companies to compete effectively for larger public sector contracts that they would not have been considered for in the past.

“As an AWS Solution Provider and Advanced Consultancy Partner, Softcat is delighted to be able to offer the OGVA to Public Sector customers. Innovation and digital transformation has never been more important to UK Public Sector organisations than it is today. The OGVA will really help us to support customers to innovate by providing AWS technologies via a national agreement, with the improved cost efficiency that brings. The combination of AWS working with a partner like Softcat will help Public Sector customers to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives,” said Anthony Cowen, sales director at Softcat, a technology solution and service provider with headquarters in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

The OGVA is comprised of two tiers. The first tier supports organisations at the beginning of their cloud journey, allowing them to conduct their first cloud projects through a package of offers including bespoke training, workshops, and “cloud credits” for new research projects and for the not for profit sector. The second tier is for larger organisations already using the cloud. The packages offered as part of the second tier help customers maximise benefits from their existing cloud environment with participants benefiting from a new pricing structure that reflects the collective commitment and spend of all public sector organisations participating in the programme.

Together, the benefits from these two tiers will enable AWS public sector customers to reinvent themselves and use the cloud to more rapidly experiment at a lower cost and lower risk than ever before.

“Governments, education, healthcare, and nonprofit customers across the UK are already delivering some of the world’s most exciting innovations, enabled by the AWS Cloud,” said Chris Hayman, director of UK public sector at AWS. “This new agreement will provide a technical skills boost to those working in the public sector, allow smaller suppliers more access to government contracts by supporting a more fair and diverse marketplace, and deliver significant savings to public sector organisations.”

The OGVA is part of the ongoing collaboration between AWS and the UK government to develop new ways to engage and serve citizens as part of the government’s “cloud first” approach to digital transformation.

Public sector organisations interested in finding out more about the One Government Value Agreement, and how they might benefit from it should contact their AWS account manager (if an existing customer) or contact us.

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