Scores of IT suppliers and consultancy firms have made it onto the G-Cloud framework, but government officials are keeping schtum about the names and numbers until a two-week cooling off period passes.

A Cabinet Office spokesman told El Reg that 600 firms applied to be involved in Blighty's public sector mega-cloud system, and that on 2 February officials had started to notify applicants if they had or had not made into onto the agreement worth £60m.

According to sources close to proceedings, some 240 suppliers made it onto the VIP list though due to "commercial sensitivity" the spokesman was unable to confirm this. Companies that failed to make the grade now have a fortnight in which to appeal the decision, the Alcatel Period.

Getting onto the framework is not a guarantee of business but means suppliers in one of the four lots - infrastructure-as-a-service, PaaS, SaaS and specialist cloud services - can vie for individual contracts as they arise.

Buying commences for unaccredited services through CloudStore - a catalogue of services and suppliers - from the start of next week, on the same day as AccreditCamp - a live webinar for suppliers to hear more about the G-Cloud processes.

The initial BuyCamp kicks off on 1 March, which is an interactive event explaining the way CloudStore works. The aim is to create an e-marketplace that details a list of 1,700 services, accreditation levels to allow buyers to contrast offers.

Suppliers that have made it onto the G-Cloud framework claimed the entry process was not the most challenging, unlike Buying Solutions' Commodity IT Hardware and Software (CITHS) or the Sprint ii application process.

"The exclusivity is not there which potentially makes the framework less valuable. In previous agreements the suppliers were heavily vetted so the organisers achieved a minimum standard of quality," said one. ®