Updated: Specialists requirements can now be open for 1 or 2 weeks.
Digital Marketplace overview
The Digital Marketplace helps you find cloud technology and specialist services for digital projects.
It uses 3 frameworks (agreements between government and suppliers). You can find:
digital outcomes, digital specialists and user research services through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework
cloud services (for example web hosting or IT health checks) through the G-Cloud framework
physical datacentre space for services that can’t be migrated to the cloud through the Crown Hosting Data Centres framework
All public sector organisations, including agencies and arm’s length bodies, can use the Digital Marketplace. Check the list of approved organisations (MS Excel spreadsheet 2.65MB) to see if you’re eligible.
What you can buy on Digital Outcomes and Specialists
You can use the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework to find outcomes, specialists and user research services for digital projects.
There are over 1,200 suppliers on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework. Digital Outcomes and Specialists services include:
digital outcomes, for example a booking system or an accessibility audit
digital specialists, for example a product manager or a developer
user research studios
user research participants
If you need a digital outcome, you should tell suppliers about the situation or problem. They’ll then propose a solution that meets your needs.
If you need a digital specialist, you should ask suppliers to provide a specialist for a specific piece of work. The specialist can’t work outside the scope of your written requirements.
If you need to find user research participants, you’ll have to tell suppliers about the types of participants you want to test your service with. They’ll then tell you if they can meet your needs and how much it will cost.
If you need a user research studio, you’ll have to tell suppliers what facilities you need and when. They’ll then tell you if they can meet your needs and how much it will cost.
Who the suppliers are
All Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers have:
confirmed information about their company and the way they work
added information about the services that they offer
Read about how suppliers have been evaluated.
How to work with suppliers
Digital Outcomes and Specialists suppliers provide services – you can’t place these suppliers in permanent or interim roles. Specialists are employed by the supplier.
Suppliers carry responsibility and liability for the work done by their specialists.
If you need to find people for roles where the person enters into a contract directly with the public sector organisation you work for, you’ll need an employment agency. You can find contractors and interim staff through Contingent Labour ONE, Consultancy ONE and Non Medical Non Clinical.
How to buy
The buying process is different when you buy user research studio services. You should read the user research studios buyers’ guide before you start.
When you buy digital outcomes, digital specialists and user research participants services, you must:
Prepare your draft requirements.
Get approval to buy what you need.
Write and publish your requirements on the Digital Marketplace. They will be publicly available.
Answer supplier questions.
Review ‘essential’ and ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience to create your shortlist.
If your shortlist is too long, ask suppliers for evidence.
Invite shortlisted suppliers to the assessment stage.
Evaluate proposals and presentations to find the right supplier for your needs.
Award a contract and give feedback to unsuccessful suppliers.
Publish the contract on Contracts Finder.
Complete the Digital Outcomes and Specialists buyer benefits form.
The evaluation process has to be fair, open and transparent. You should be able to demonstrate a clear audit trail, including any questions you’ve answered and any evaluation you’ve made.
1. Prepare your draft requirements
Working with both procurement and technical professionals can help you decide on the high-level requirements and how long your project will take.
You should consider:
the funds you have to buy the service
the user needs of the project
any technical requirements of the project
the size of the project
the stage the project is at
the criteria on which your choice will be based
Decide on what the ‘essential’ and ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience are so you can filter supplier responses later. The more specific you can be with these criteria, the easier it will be to find a supplier who meets your needs.
You can talk to suppliers before you start to help you refine your requirements. Most buyers who need a digital outcome do this. You can find a list of Digital Outcomes and Specialists’ suppliers on the Digital Marketplace.
Read more about how to write requirements and set your evaluation criteria for Digital Outcomes and Specialists services.
Download requirements templates.
View other published requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
2. Get approval to buy what you need
You must get budget approval before you start the buying process.
If you’re buying for central government, you have to go through the digital and IT spend control process before you publish your requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
If you’re buying for a public sector organisation outside of central government, you must get any internal approval you need.
3. Write and publish your requirements
You’ll be asked to include different information depending on whether you’re buying digital outcomes, digital specialists or user research participant recruitment services. The details you provide will help suppliers decide whether or not to apply. They’ll also help you shortlist interested suppliers to find those that best meet your needs.
You can write your requirements in draft and come back later to publish them.
Writing digital outcomes requirements
Filter by location to reduce the number of suppliers.
Help suppliers decide whether to apply by including information about:
the problem you want to solve
who the users are and what they need to do
any work that’s already been done
Set question and answer session details.
Describe ‘essential’ skills and experience to help specialists decide if they should apply.
Describe ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience to help you refine your shortlist by prioritising applicants with the right skills.
Choose how you’re going to assess specialists, for example by written proposal or face-to-face presentation.
Set evaluation criteria for:
technical competence, for example how well the proposal meets your needs
cultural fit, for example how the supplier will work with your organisation
price
Set the weightings for how you’ll score suppliers on technical competence, cultural fit and price. The weightings are how much priority you’re giving to each area.
Publish requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
Writing digital specialist requirements
Filter by role and location to reduce the number of suppliers.
Help suppliers decide whether to apply by including information about:
the work you want
when you want them to start
the contract length
Set question and answer session details.
Describe ‘essential’ skills and experience to help specialists decide if they should apply.
Describe ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience to help you refine your shortlist by prioritising applicants with the right skills.
Choose how you’re going to assess specialists, for example by interview or code test.
Set evaluation criteria for:
technical competence
cultural fit
price
Set the weightings for how you’ll score suppliers on technical competence, cultural fit and price, for example how much priority you’re giving to each one.
Set how long your requirements will be open for: 1 or 2 weeks.
Publish requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
Writing user research participant recruitment requirements
Filter by location to reduce the number of suppliers.
Help suppliers decide whether to apply by including information about:
the kind of users you want them to recruit
when you need them to be available
Set question and answer session details.
Describe ‘essential’ skills and experience to help specialists decide if they should apply.
Describe ‘nice-to-have’ skills and experience to help you refine your shortlist by prioritising applicants with the right skills.
Choose how you’re going to assess specialists, for example by proposal or case study
Set evaluation criteria for:
technical competence
availability
price
Set the weightings for how you’ll score suppliers on technical competence, cultural fit and price. The weightings are how much priority you’re giving to each area.
Publish requirements on the Digital Marketplace.
Read more about:
how to write clear requirements.
how to set your evaluation criteria
4. Answer supplier questions
After you’ve published your requirements, suppliers may want to ask questions about them.
You must:
post all questions and answers on the Digital Marketplace
remove any reference to the supplier’s name or any confidential information about the supplier
give an individual response to each question, even when questions are similar
answer all questions at least 1 working day before the deadline to give suppliers time to decide if the work is right for them
get commercial or legal advice if you don’t think you’ll be able to answer, or haven’t answered, all the questions at least one working day before the deadline
Read more about how to answer supplier questions.
5. Shortlist interested suppliers
After you’ve published your requirements, suppliers will apply and tell you:
when they can start work
if they have the essential skills and experience
which nice-to-have skills and experience they have
how much the specialist costs (specialist suppliers only)
You can shortlist the suppliers who:
can start work when you need them to
can work within your budget (specialist suppliers only)
meet all the essential skills and experience
provide the most nice-to-have skills and experience
Read more about how to shortlist suppliers.
6. If your shortlist is too long, ask suppliers for evidence
The number of suppliers on your shortlist might exceed the number of suppliers you said you’d evaluate when you published your requirements and evaluation criteria. If this happens, you should ask suppliers to provide proof of their essential and nice-to-have skills and experience.
Read more about how to shortlist suppliers.
7. Invite shortlisted suppliers to the assessment stage
You can use a range of assessment methods to help you find the supplier that best meets your needs. You must only use the assessment methods you said you’d use when you published your requirements. You don’t have to use all of these methods. Depending on the type of service you’re buying, you can choose:
a written proposal
an interview
a presentation
a case study
a reference
a work history
a scenario or test
Read more about assessment methods.
8. Evaluate proposals to find the best supplier for your needs
You must evaluate shortlisted suppliers to find the one that best meets your requirements.
You need to use the methods and criteria you published with your requirements to:
assess suppliers, for example in an interview or with a written proposal
score suppliers
You can then award a contract to the supplier with the highest score.
Read about:
how to evaluate
how to buy fairly
Overview of evaluation
(PDF, 22.4KB, 9 pages)
How to score
To evaluate consistently, you must mark all questions out of 3 and apply the relevant weighting for that particular criteria to get a score. Use the scoring template to help you.
Scoring by price
When you score by price, the lower the price, the higher the score.
You can’t change the criteria or their weightings after your requirements are published.
Keep an audit trail
Document the reasons for awarding scores to each supplier and the reasons for choosing the criteria and weightings. You must be able to explain how you decided which supplier to award.
Read about how to keep an audit trail.
9. Award a contract and give feedback to unsuccessful suppliers
Once you’ve identified the winning supplier, you must notify all remaining suppliers of your decision at the same time. You can notify suppliers by email.
Notify the successful supplier
Tell the winning supplier you’ll award them a contract.
Read about how to award a contract.
View the Digital Outcomes and Specialists’ call-off contract
Notify unsuccessful suppliers
Suppliers need to know if and why they weren’t successful so they can plan for other work and improve any future applications they make.
You must:
tell unsuccessful suppliers that you won’t be awarding them a contract and why
only comment on that supplier’s scores, ie don’t share specific details of other unsuccessful supplier’s scores
give positive feedback where appropriate
give only the final agreed scores, not individual evaluator scores
give the scores of the winning supplier
What happens if you don’t find the right supplier
You don’t have to award a contract if you can’t find a suitable supplier. You should tell all remaining suppliers that:
you haven’t found one that meets your needs
you’re not going to award a contract
You may choose to review what you need and then publish new requirements.
10. Publish the contract to Contracts Finder
You must publish all completed contracts on Contracts Finder.
11. Complete the Digital Outcomes and Specialists buyer benefits form
Digital Outcomes and Specialists buyer benefits form
ODT, 8.08KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Once complete, email a copy to cloud_digital@crowncommercial.gov.uk
Continuing or ending Digital Outcomes and Specialists services
When you agree a contract (or ‘call-off’) with a Digital Outcomes and Specialists supplier on the Digital Marketplace, you’ll need to think about how you’ll work together.
Make sure you both:
understand and agree to what the contract covers
agree to how and when you’ll pay the supplier
know what to do if you disagree about the work
know how to change or end the contract
Read more about:
how to manage a contract
how the terms and conditions work
If you have any questions about the Digital Marketplace, email enquiries@digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk.