Set up a commercial or digital and technology spend controls pipeline
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-18)

Follow this guidance to create forward-looking pipelines for the current versions of the commercial and digital and technology spend controls processes.

You can read the definition of pipelines and the qualifying criteria in the spend controls policy summary (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls-version-6).

Purpose of pipelines

Your organisation must create and maintain pipelines showing future activity to follow the current versions of the commercial (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/commercial-spend-controls-version-5) and digital and technology (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-and-technology-spend-control-version-6) spend controls processes. Pipelines help your organisation to:
- see all commercial, digital and technology spend activity
- plan resourcing and capability requirements
- improve spend planning and transparency for your management team
- focus expertise on spend activities that require more oversight, allowing you to spot patterns or duplicated spend within your organisation
- reduce retrospective spend requests
- plan for extensions, renewals, and new requirements earlier
- promote assurance activity that is sensible and proportionate
Overlap between pipelines

You can overlap commercial pipelines with digital and technology pipelines. For example, when digital and technology activity totals £20 million or over, you must feature this activity on both pipelines during the triaging process. You should work jointly with the Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Cabinet Office Central Commercial Teams to ask for approval.

You must include any ongoing activity that could incur future spend in both pipelines, even if you have not secured funding. This includes Independent Shared Service Centres activity, for example, current or new back office/administrative systems a website or service such as hosting, data centres, voice and video, security expenditure related to PSN.

Pipeline templates

Your organisation must record activities on your pipelines, and you should add new spend to your pipeline as soon as possible.

You must make sure planned spend is included in your pipeline and within scope of the respective controls. You do not need to include existing contracts that you are not replacing in the pipeline.

The Cabinet Office has developed 2 templates of what you should include in commercial and digital and technology pipelines, at a minimum.

Commercial pipeline template

Digital and technology pipeline template

Download a template of the digital and technology pipeline (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/939735/Pipeline_Template.ods)

Help creating pipelines

You should note that it may take time for you to create your pipelines, and maintaining them is an ongoing process.

If you need help developing a commercial pipeline you can work with the GCF Central Commercial Team. Email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) to find out which Commercial Business Partner is assigned to your organisation.

If you need help developing a digital and technology pipeline you can work with a GDS advisor. Email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) to find out which advisor is assigned to your organisation.