New Government Chief Procurement Officer appointed

23/07/2012

Bill Crothers is to succeed John Collington as the government’s chief procurement officer in an expanded role that will bring Whitehall's procurement and commercial activities closer together.

Crothers is currently the executive director of commercial relationships at the Cabinet Office and his new responsibilities will include managing the strategic supplier programme, the crown representative network and procurement across government. He will also be responsible for developing the Commissioning Academy, which is intended to boost the status of commissioning and procurement.

He becomes only the second person to take on the role of government CPO, which was created under the current coalition government. In another change, Sally Collier, executive director of policy and capability at the Efficiency and Reform Group, will support Crothers as deputy chief procurement officer. David Smith – commercial director at the Department for Work and Pensions, CIPS president and the current deputy UK government CPO – will continue to play a key role within the central procurement team in his role as crown representative, where he will negotiate with major government suppliers.

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