G-Cloud Framework Questions

G-Cloud Framework Questions

Conversational knowledge about the G-Cloud 15 framework (RM1557.15): its lots, the questions suppliers answer, the limits, how bids are scored, and the supplier declaration. G-Cloud 15 is run by the Government Commercial Agency (GCA, formerly Crown Commercial Service).

Purpose

Answer common questions about the G-Cloud 15 question set without generating documents. Every answer here comes from GCA's official question export, the tender documents, or what live G-Cloud 15 listings show.

When to Use

Activate when users ask about:

• Which lots exist and which one a service belongs in
• Character or word limits for a field
• How bids are evaluated and weighted
• The supplier declaration, the Procurement Act 2023 or the Central Digital Platform
• Social value requirements
• What changed since G-Cloud 14

Quick Reference: Lots

Lot	Name	Search slug
1a	IaaS and PaaS	iaas-and-paas
1b	IaaS and PaaS above OFFICIAL	not publicly listed
2a	Infrastructure Software as a Service (iSaaS)	isaas
2b	Software as a Service (SaaS)	saas
3	Cloud Support (managed services, FinOps, migration, security, testing, training, support)	cloud-support

Quick Reference: Limits

Field	Limit
Service name	100 characters, name only
Service description	500 characters
Service categories	One root and one group (Root > Group) per service; split a service that spans groups
Features / benefits	10 each, 10 words each
System requirements	10 words each
Quality Cloud Services (1a/1b)	500 words (2 parts, 250 each)
Maximising Buyer Value (1a/1b)	750 words (3 parts, 250 each)
Exit procedure, change of service (1a/1b)	250 words each
Other free-text answers	50, 100 or 200 words by question (for example support levels 200, service constraints 100, free trial 50). Not in GCA's export: inferred from the live listings, tabulated by lot in references/framework-questions.md
Documents	ODF or PDF/A, 5 MB, accessible, no pricing in the service definition

Quick Reference: Evaluation

Lot	Weights
1a/1b	Social value 10%, Quality Cloud Services 40%, Maximising Buyer Value 40%, onboarding price 5%, minimum discount 5%
2a/2b	Social value 10%, four mandatory award criteria 10%, price 80%: the six band discounts are totalled and the highest total scores 80%
3	Social value 10%, four mandatory award criteria 10%, price 80%: the lowest average day rate (every rate entered, UK and offshore) scores 80%

Mandatory certificates for the bid: ISO 9001, 20000-1 and 27001 for Lots 1a/1b (plus ISO 14001, 27017 and, with public cloud, 27018 unless relying on a provider's accreditations). Mandatory for call-off contracts, not for the bid: Cyber Essentials Plus on Lots 1a/1b and Cyber Essentials on Lots 2a, 2b and 3.

Quick Reference: Declaration

G-Cloud 15 runs under the Procurement Act 2023. Suppliers register on the Central Digital Platform (CDP), which gives a 12-character PPON, and declare mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds (Schedules 6 and 7) in their core supplier information there. The G-Cloud 15 declaration then covers parent companies, consortium and associated persons (with PPONs and share codes), the debarment list, subcontractors, payments in contracts above £5m a year, modern slavery, social value, whether a third party or bid writer helped prepare the bid, and connected persons.

Answering Questions

1. Check the quick reference tables above first.
2. Consult references/framework-questions.md for the overview: every section by lot, the lot questions, pricing rules and what changed from G-Cloud 14. It lists which detailed file to read next.
3. For an exact question, its options or GCA's guidance, read the one file you need from references/g-cloud-15/ (per-lot service questions, lot questions, the declaration, the social value model or the category trees). Don't read them all; together they are about 280 KB.
4. Be specific about lots: 1a/1b and 2a/2b share question sets, but Lot 1b allows only SC or DV staff clearance, and 2a and 2b have different categories.
5. Say where a fact comes from when it is inferred rather than stated by GCA (for example, the 100 and 500 character limits come from what listings show).

Related Commands

These ArcKit commands generate documents that answer framework questions:

Command	Framework Area
/arckit-uk-gcloud:service-design	Lot choice, service identity, features, benefits, categories
/arckit-uk-gcloud:sdd-lot1a, sdd-lot1b, sdd-lot2a, sdd-lot2b, sdd-lot3	Each lot's service questions
/arckit-uk-gcloud:lot-questions	Lot questions, including the scored 1a/1b quality answers
/arckit-uk-gcloud:social-value	Social value commitments for the declaration and listings
/arckit-uk-gcloud:pricing	Pricing for each lot
/arckit-uk-gcloud:security	Security and compliance answers
/arckit-uk-gcloud:declaration	The supplier declaration

Additional Resources

Reference Files

• references/framework-questions.md — G-Cloud 15 overview: framework facts, lots, limits, sections by lot, evaluation, pricing rules, declaration and changes from G-Cloud 14, with an index of the detailed files.
• references/g-cloud-15/ — The full question lists, generated from GCA's question export, plus the social value model and category trees built from live listings.