G-Cloud 15 was awarded on 6 August 2026. Quality, price and social value are now evaluated when a supplier joins the G-Cloud framework. On G-Cloud 14 none of the three were evaluated at framework level.
The agreement number is RM1557.15. It replaces three separate agreements: G-Cloud 14, the separately listed G-Cloud 14 Lot 4, and Cloud Compute 2. Replacement governs new business, so each of the three continues to its own expiry date and the call-offs already placed under them run on under their own terms. It is the first G-Cloud iteration procured under the Procurement Act 2023.
The Government Commercial Agency (GCA, formerly Crown Commercial Service) has published no date from which buyers can place orders on the new agreement. Until it does, G-Cloud 14 remains the live route and 28 October 2026 is the first of the two dates that govern your planning. Anything bought before then carries G-Cloud 14 terms, including its 48-month call-off ceiling, so a purchase that needs longer should wait.
Joining G-Cloud 14 was an admission process. Suppliers declared what they sold and what they held. Everything a buying organisation wanted to know had to be established later, at call-off, on its own time.
Membership of the G-Cloud framework now carries a quality signal it did not previously carry. Your duty to run a proper call-off is unchanged, and no framework position makes a supplier the right fit for a specific service. The starting position is different: a shortlist pulled from the platform now comes from a pool that has been assessed.
For the officer building that shortlist, whether a certificate is still current is no longer something to establish from scratch.
G-Cloud 14 (RM1557.14) runs to 28 October 2026. G-Cloud 14 Lot 4 ends on the same date. Cloud Compute 2 (RM6292) runs to 27 November 2026.
Framework expiry and contract expiry are different things. Check each live call-off for its own end date and extension position before you assume the agreement date applies to the contract sitting under it.
G-Cloud 15 has five lots. G-Cloud 14 had four.
Compute now sits in the same agreement as software and support, so councils splitting hosting and support across two agreements can place both under one set of terms.
On G-Cloud 15, Lots 1a and 1b allow an initial term of up to five years with extensions of up to three more, so eight years in total. Lots 2a, 2b and 3 allow an initial term of up to four years with extensions of up to two more, so six years in total. On G-Cloud 14 the maximum was 36 months plus a 12-month extension.
An eight-year commitment is a different governance decision from a four-year one. It suits a platform migration where the payback sits several years out. It also puts far more weight on the price review and service review points written into the call-off, because the market will move more than once inside the term.
A council that treats the maximum as the default will be living with a 2027 decision in 2035. The eight years are a ceiling, and the initial term is set by the buyer at call-off.
On G-Cloud 14, Lots 1 to 3 were direct award without competition and Lot 4 required a further competition. On G-Cloud 15 every lot can be called off both with and without competition.
More of the estate can now be bought quickly. In exchange, the justification for choosing direct award now sits with the buying organisation on every lot rather than being settled by the lot structure. Internal standing orders and procurement guidance written around the old four-lot split will point officers at the wrong route.
Direct award only applies to what the framework covers. A discovery, a website build or a team of specialists sits on Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7, which carries no direct award route, and how a council buys digital delivery through Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7 sets out that process. Choosing between G-Cloud and DOS 7 for a council digital project covers where the line between the two sits.
Terms move from the bespoke G-Cloud call-off terms to the Public Sector Contract aligned to the Procurement Act 2023. A commercial or legal colleague who reviewed a G-Cloud 14 call-off last year will not be reading the same document this time.
Build review time into the first few call-offs, and flag the exit and liability provisions to whoever signs them.
Lots 1a and 1b require ISO 9001, ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus. All four are mandatory and validated, and only a validated certificate displays on the platform. Suppliers must also evidence ISO 14001 and ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 where they offer public cloud. On G-Cloud 14 those certifications were optional and unvalidated.
Cyber Essentials is mandatory for prime suppliers on Lots 2a, 2b and 3, and for subcontractors handling personal data or data at OFFICIAL. Validation happens within 12 months of award.
Validation does not tell you scope. A certificate belongs to a legal entity and covers a defined set of services and sites, so ask which entity holds it and whether it names the team delivering your work.
Suppliers publish their own framework positions and certifications too, often with that scope detail attached. Read those alongside the platform listing.
List every call-off you hold on G-Cloud 14, G-Cloud 14 Lot 4 and Cloud Compute 2, with its end date and extension position. That list is the input to every other decision here.
Decide which of the next quarter’s planned purchases go out under G-Cloud 14 and which wait for G-Cloud 15. Anything carrying a long legal review or a heavy migration is the first candidate to go early.
Your internal procurement guidance is the next job. Rewrite it for five lots, two buying routes and the Public Sector Contract.
Suppliers currently on Cloud Compute 2 will need a G-Cloud 15 position before any new call-off can be placed once that agreement ends in November. It is an open framework, so suppliers can join at defined reopening points during its term rather than only at award.
Give the transition list and the guidance rewrite to one named officer, with a date against each, and review both before 28 October.
G-Cloud 15, sometimes written gcloud 15, is the fifteenth version of the G-Cloud framework, agreement number RM1557.15, run by the Government Commercial Agency, formerly Crown Commercial Service. Award was 6 August 2026. Three agreements fold into it: G-Cloud 14, the separately listed G-Cloud 14 Lot 4, and Cloud Compute 2. GCA has published no date for when buyers can begin placing orders.
Suppliers joined G-Cloud 14 without their quality, price or social value being assessed. Those three now sit inside the framework assessment on G-Cloud 15, so a listing tells a buyer more than it did. Certification on the hosting lots also moved from optional and unchecked to required and validated, and a certificate that has not passed validation stays off the listing.
It depends on the lot. Lots 1a and 1b, covering infrastructure and platform, allow up to eight years: an initial term of no more than five years plus extensions adding no more than three. Lots 2a, 2b and 3 cap out at six years, from an initial four plus two. The G-Cloud 14 ceiling was 36 months with a single 12-month extension.
Verified 6 August 2026.