The world is increasingly turning towards digital technology and the cloud to transform business processes and make the handling of data more streamlined. Whilst the public sector may have been slow to grasp this move to a digital world at first, it’s now starting to catch up. The UK Government has launched its own Digital Marketplace, making it easier for public sector bodies to buy the digital services that they need, and for suppliers to get involved in providing systems for Government departments and other public sector bodies.
Digital Outcomes and Specialists
From April of this year the Government has replaced the old Government Digital Service (DGS2) with something called Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS). DOS is designed to remove some of the problems of the old system and to make the digital services market easier for customers to navigate.
Under DOS there are three main categories of supplier: Digital Outcomes, Digital Specialists, and User Research Studios and participants. Each of these is able to offer a different level of service to the public sector.
W3Partnership has been appointed as a Digital Outcomes supplier and Digital Specialist. As an Outcomes supplier W3Partnership are able to provide teams to both build and support digital services across the public sector. They’re able to handle the entire process from researching, designing, building and testing a digital service, right through to evolving it to meet any changes and even retiring old services as they’re replaced or phased out.
Digital Outcomes suppliers must be able to provide services that comply with the phases that are set out in the Government Service Design Manual. These include user experience and design, performance analysis and data, security, service delivery and more. They must also be able to work in an agile manner and must be responsive to the needs of the customer.
As a Digital Specialist Supplier, W3Partnership are able to supply individuals to fill Digital Specialist roles, such as; Technical Architects, Designers, Developers or Agile Coaches at Day rates either onsite or offshore.
The benefits of DOS
In order to become a Digital Outcomes supplier, companies have to provide information about their services to allow potential customers to evaluate them. With the older DGS2 process, evaluation was carried out at the application stage. In DOS, things are made simpler as buyers are allowed to evaluate suppliers themselves against their specific requirements. Buyers can issue a brief to potential suppliers and evaluate their suitability based upon their response.
This should simplify the process of commissioning digital systems. It will allow Government departments to reduce the time and cost that has in the past been associated with the procurement process. It allows allow buyers and suppliers to engage with each other so that they can decide if the supplier is right for the project.
DOS will also help to open up the business of Government systems procurement to more suppliers. A wider range of companies will therefore have the opportunity to become involved in digital transformation projects across the entire public sector market.
