Microsoft, software king of the world, has banned third-party IT suppliers from reselling its cloud services through the government’s soon-to-be launched Cloud Compute 2 procurement framework.
The government’s procurement arm, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), told suppliers they hoped to get a spot on the four Lot framework, valued at £1.35 billion.
Microsoft is one of 12 cloud providers to have secured a spot on the framework’s first Lot, geared towards public sector IT buyers who want to buy cloud services directly from the hyperscalers.
The framework’s second Lot is for public sector IT buyers that want to procure the providers’ services in Lot One indirectly through a third-party reseller or managed service provider. There are 39 suppliers on that Lot.
However, the providers in Lot One have to grant permission to the suppliers in Lot Two to resell their services.
Microsoft told CCS in its framework application that no partners would be permitted to resell its services through Cloud Compute 2, which has resulted in at least a handful of pure-play Microsoft reseller partners being banned from participating in the framework.
Microsoft partners permitted to resell the services of the other hyperscale cloud providers who have secured a place on Lot One can still participate in Cloud Compute 2 but will be banned from selling Microsoft services through it, too.
