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FCO Services to Provide G-Cloud Services to UK Government

U.K.-based agency FCO Services, a trading fund of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), has been named as an accredited supplier on the G-Cloud Services ii Framework by Government Procurement Service.

FCO Services was accredited for supplying Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) and Specialist Cloud Services, according to Chris Moxey, CEO of FCO Services.

“We are a leading provider of secure ICT services to central government departments. As a successful government agency, we are well positioned to enable organizations to access a secure private cloud service that meets the government agenda to reduce costs, improve communication and encourage collaboration,” Moxey said in a statement. “Cloud computing is the way forward, it’s a complete change in the way we work. It challenges conventional methods by introducing innovation and enables government departments to utilize the latest evergreen technologies.”

Based on current economic weakness and budget restrictions, FCO Services said its priority is to help the public sector achieve cost saving through developing the U.K. government’s cloud-based services.

“We are very proud to be part of the G-Cloud Framework and to have been re-selected as a provider of cloud services to the U.K. public sector, across all four service categories,” Moxey added. “Supplying through G-Cloud is a fundamental part of our strategy to help the public sector find innovative ways to deliver secure core ICT services without prohibitive investment in hardware.”

The four cloud categories awarded are available for procurement through the Government Procurement Service’s G-Cloud catalogue known as CloudStore. These services are securely hosted on FCO Services’ private cloud, called Government Secure Applications Environment (GSAE), created especially to meet the needs of government departments that need to access, share and develop information and applications securely.

The addition of FCO Services is a boon to the U.K. government, which has made helping organizations across the U.K. public sector achieve savings a top priority, according to Marie-Helene Durif, head of sourcing and category management of ICT at the Government Procurement Service.

“At the Government Procurement Service, our priority is to provide procurement savings for organizations across the U.K. public sector. The inclusion of FCO Services to the G-Cloud Service ii Framework Agreement will strengthen our offering and provide public sector buyers with a tried and tested route to achieve are value for money,” Durif said.

CloudStore allows users to connect with users across government on GSI/PSN in the knowledge that no GSAE customers to obtain ICT services which are: fully managed and secure; flexible and customizable, based on utilization; monitored and updated e.g. authentication, anti-virus and patch management; hosted in U.K. government datacenters on secure government sites and compliant to government requirements.