UK public sector day rates: G-Cloud SFIA rate cards

UK public sector buyers can see something private buyers rarely can: suppliers' day rates, published on the Digital Marketplace under the G-Cloud framework. Under G-Cloud 14 Lot 4, for example, maximum day rates were set by SFIA level. If you are buying testing services in the UK, or comparing a proposal from any supplier that quotes day rates by seniority, it helps to know how these rate cards are built and how the framework expects buyers to use them.

What SFIA is

SFIA, the Skills Framework for the Information Age, is maintained by the SFIA Foundation. The current version is SFIA 9. It defines seven levels of responsibility, from Level 1 (the lowest) to Level 7 (the highest), each summarised by a guiding phrase:

1. Follow
2. Assist
3. Apply
4. Enable
5. Ensure and advise
6. Initiate and influence
7. Set strategy, inspire, mobilise

Each level describes increasing responsibility, accountability and impact. The levels are about the person's role, not their job title, which is why they are useful for pricing: a rate card organised by SFIA level lets a buyer compare suppliers who use different titles for similar work.

How SFIA rate cards appear on G-Cloud

The Government Commercial Agency (GCA; Crown Commercial Service became GCA on 1 April 2026) runs the G-Cloud frameworks. For G-Cloud 14 Lot 4, which covers further competition for cloud support including quality assurance and performance testing, GCA states that maximum SFIA day rates were established for the agreement. Buyers can request Lot 4 supplier pricing information by emailing GCA and quoting the agreement number.

Under G-Cloud 15 (RM1557.15), the buyer guide describes Lot 3, cloud support services, as including a quality assurance and performance testing category. For Lot 3 the guide says:

• The rate card is published on the digital platform within each supplier's service listing.
• Suppliers may reduce the rates on the published rate card, but no increases are permitted within each framework term.
• Pricing must not be listed only as a minimum price, or only as price ranges unless each price point is explained.
• Lot 3 call-off contracts can run for an initial period of up to 4 years, with extensions of up to 2 years in total.

The scale of the catalogue is large. A search of the Digital Marketplace on 24 September 2026 for "software testing" in Lot 3 returned 1,208 service listings.

What a published day rate tells you, and what it does not

It is a ceiling, not a quote. Framework rates are maximums. The framework lets suppliers reduce them and lets buyers run further competitions, so the price you are offered for a defined piece of work can be lower.

It does not say how many days. For day-rate work, the total depends as much on the number of days as on the rate. Two suppliers with the same rate card can produce very different totals for the same scope. Compare total prices for a defined scope, not rates alone.

The level mapping is the supplier's. Each supplier decides which of its people sit at which SFIA level. A Level 4 tester at one supplier may do work that another supplier would staff at Level 3 or Level 5. Ask for the named or profiled people behind each level and check them.

It does not show what is included. Check whether the day rate covers travel, tools and licences, test environments, devices, and management time, and how many hours make a day.

It is not a fair-price benchmark for private buyers. G-Cloud rates reflect UK public sector terms and the framework's own rules. Use them to understand structure and spread, not as a price you should expect.

Reading a rate card as a buyer

When a supplier quotes day rates by level, whether on G-Cloud or in a private tender, work through the same checks:

• Map each role you need to an SFIA level yourself, before you read the supplier's mapping.
• Ask for the proposed staffing mix by level and the number of days per level over the contract.
• Ask whether rates can rise during the contract, when, and by what mechanism.
• Ask what the rate excludes and how those items are charged.
• Price the same defined scope for every supplier and compare totals.

What this means for your selection

Treat any published day rate as the upper edge of what you can be charged and as a structure for comparison, not as a benchmark of value. Model the staffing mix and days in the cost model, and use the RFP builder to require every bidder to price the same scope by level with inclusions stated. Put rate-change and key-personnel terms in the contract, and score the answers in the scorecard. The guides on rate cards and what they hide, QA pricing models and how QA vendors staff projects go further into each check.