
Government CloudStore returns to life after embarrassing outage
Service issue affecting platform access highlights risks of cloud-based procurement

The government has said that issues affecting its flagship cloud computing CloudStore service have now been fixed after problems stopped suppliers and customers from logging into the service.
The Cabinet Office explained that the error prevented suppliers from uploading services to the marketplace and stopped buyers from searching for available services.
#cloudstore issue is a system error affecting public access. Procserve are working on fixing it ad we'll update when resolved
— G-Cloud (@G_Cloud_UK) July 25, 2012
However, by Thursday morning it said the problem had been resolved and that users should be able to access the system as normal.
Pleased to say that #cloudstore issues have been fixed so normal service should be resumed - any probs let us know.
— G-Cloud (@G_Cloud_UK) July 26, 2012
The G-Cloud service was also knocked offline in February when Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud computing service was hit by an outage.
Home Office IT chief Denise McDonagh has been leading the G-Cloud project since its instigator, Chris Chant, retired earlier this year.
She confirmed to V3 in early July that the government is looking to introduce the ability for government departments and public sector organisations to rate the services they buy on the service.
The government has high hopes for the G-Cloud service with Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude touting potential savings of £340m in procurement costs from the platform.
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