Google Cloud signed a deal with a United Kingdom government agency that opens the door for U.K. public sector agencies to use Google Cloud services as part of their digital transformation. The deal is similar to one signed earlier this year between Microsoft and the U.K. government agency.

The Google deal is a memorandum of understanding with the U.K. Crown Commercial Service (CCS), which is a U.K. cabinet office agency and trading fund. Negotiations on the deal were initiated last year as a way to integrate cloud services under the U.K. One Government Cloud Strategy program.

As part of the agreement, Google Cloud will provide a discount to qualifying public sector bodies “based on aggregated cloud service demand and expected spend.” Those bodies can include government departments, local councils, “arm’s-length” bodies, public funded broadcasters, and charities.

The agreement also opens the door for those government bodies to tap into Google Cloud’s managed and serverless platforms. These include its multi-cloud Anthos management platform and Cloud Run serverless products.

Mark Palmer, head of the public sector in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for Google Cloud, explained in a statement that “this is a significant milestone for us as we see the results of our focused investment in cloud services and solutions primed and tailored for the public sector.”

The Google Cloud deal comes as the U.K. CCS signed a similar deal in late April with Microsoft to gain additional preferential pricing for Azure Cloud services. That extension built on an original pricing deal signed in 2018, and runs through April 2021.

Amazon Dominates

The deals build on the U.K. Government Cloud First policy initiated in 2013. Government agencies spent more than $1.6 billion on cloud services using the CCS Digital Marketplace last year.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) garnered the most spend among the major public cloud providers, scoring more than $115 million in contracts through various entities last year. AWS was also selected by the U.K. government to host the marketplace site.

Microsoft counted nearly $52 million in sales through the portal last year.