David Shields to leave GPS

22 May 2013 03:44 PM

Managing Director David Shields is set to leave GPS at the end of June, it was confirmed recently. Shields joined GPS in 2010, to support plans to reform Central Government procurement, providing savings for the UK Public Sector as a whole and to deliver centralised procurement for Central Government Departments.

In 2011/12 GPS managed public procurement spend totalling £8.4bn, and by the end of 2012/13 increased this to more than £11bn, against an original target of £10bn. GPS is the largest buying organisation in the UK and has a legal remit to trade across the whole of the public sector.

Bill Crothers, Chief Procurement Officer said: “We are very grateful to David for growing GPS into one of the largest centralised procurement operations in Europe and for vastly improving the quality of government spend data as set out in recent NAO reports.  We congratulate David and his team for achieving their savings targets for 2012/13 and wish David well in his new endeavours.”

David Shields added: “I am proud of what we have achieved in a relatively short time at GPS. We’ve exceeded our targets and delivered significant savings for the taxpayer. What we have achieved together will act as a platform for the next stage of reform, and I look forward to watching this success continue as I leave to take on a new challenge.”

Sally Collier, Government Deputy CPO, will become acting Managing Director and Accounting Officer with immediate effect. Sally will be supported in this role by Stephen Guy and the rest of the executive management team will remain unchanged. Bill Crothers, Government CPO will continue as Chair of GPS.

GPS will continue to play an increasingly important role in an integrated commercial service offered by the Crown, within the Cabinet Office, all within the context of the Procurement Reform programme as set out in the recent Civil Service Capabilities Plan.