Episode 3 – Dr Philip Orumwense, CBE, Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer for Technology at Crown Commercial Service

Our experts discuss the topical themes and debates in public procurement right now. They also share their own experiences as leaders of the government commercial profession.

Dr Philip Orumwense, CBE

Dr Philip Orumwense is the Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer for Technology at Crown Commercial Service (CCS) with responsibility for common goods and services across technology and digital categories. He and his team help to manage over £10 billion of technology spend each year on behalf of public sector customers.

Philip has also worked extensively within the private sector, including for Siemens where he had responsibilities for multi-site and multi-business commercial activities spanning the UK, Germany and elsewhere in Europe, South and North America.

Philip was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2020 by Her Majesty the Queen, for services to the public.

More: You can find all episodes of Commercial Insider in one place on our website. 

Interview text

Please tell us about CCS and your role within the organisation

In a constantly evolving technology market, it’s vital for the public and third sector to make the right procurement decisions.

CCS is the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK. We help customers get the best technology solutions at the best price, from laptops for schools to advanced cloud technology solutions for local authorities to help them with their digital transformation journeys. We provide access to an unparalleled range of technology products and services, all designed to help public sector organisations run more effectively and cost efficiently.

I joined CCS in February 2021 as Strategic Commercial Director for Technology, having worked extensively in other Government Departments including DWP and the Government Commercial Function (GCF).

In just over 18 months the amount of commercial benefits we’ve delivered for technology customers has increased from £431 million to £1.2 billion, representing significant savings for the public purse. This includes £4 million in savings for 14 NHS trusts on mobile voice and data services, which includes voice calls, mobile email, connectivity and applications.

What is CCS doing to make it easier for customers to use technology agreements? How have we listened to customers?

We want to continue to do more in adding real and further value to our customers as they work with us.

We’re constantly developing our commercial agreements to help customers make the best use of technology in the most cost-effective way.

Under G-Cloud 13 we’re introducing improved terms and conditions. For example, greater inclusion for the provision of day rate cloud support services along with introducing a fourth Lot for further competition for cloud support for larger, more complex requirements.

New Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), negotiated throughout 2021/22 are helping customers get the best technology at the right price. It will now be easier for public sector bodies, no matter how big or small, to get better value for money cloud capabilities and cutting-edge technology.

What are you and your team working on at the moment?

My team and I are at the forefront of developing cutting-edge commercial technology agreements and solutions for government departments and the wider public sector.

We’re in the process of bringing to market several new, innovative commercial solutions including our ‘first of its kind’ Big Data and Analytics agreement, which aims to support the public sector to improve data use to create efficiency and improve services. It has been developed in accordance with the National Data Strategy and will support the requirements of the government and the wider public sector as they continue to use data to innovate. It is yet another example of how CCS is helping the public sector to continue on its digital transformation journey.

G-Cloud 13 and Cloud Compute 2 will continue to encourage the transformation of cloud, storage and digital and technology professional services throughout the public sector. With a run rate of commercial benefits in excess of £1 billion per annum, this presents an opportunity to become one of the foremost technology thought leaders in the UK.

What is your focus for the future?

Our focus remains on leveraging the best value from our existing suite of agreements. We’re continuously looking for opportunities to promote the message of aggregated buying.

We’re also preparing ourselves for the upcoming rules reform and its implementation, once the parliamentary process is complete. Our key priority is making sure that we understand how we’ll grasp the opportunities so we can bring even more power to our customers’ procurement.

What are the trends emerging in the procurement of technology right now? How is CCS working to ensure its customers can access the very latest technology?

Digital transformation is playing a key role in creating the public sector of the future. One where increased and improved use of technology can help evolve services and meet the needs of communities more effectively and efficiently. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of digital tools, the public sector needs to keep pace with new technologies.

Procurement is no exception. My team and I are working right across central Government and the wider public sector, engaging with various stakeholders including the Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) and the Government Digital Service (GDS) to ensure that our products and services remain current and relevant at all times.

How are you and your team helping customers to make responsible decisions about sustainability and social value?

We’re continuing our work on providing sustainable technology solutions to ensure the government delivers on its commitment to carbon net zero.

Our Crown Hosting agreement provides data centre colocation facilities for the public sector, delivering significant cost savings and sustainability measures. Through this agreement, carbon savings in the region of 99.9% are achieved from efficient hyperscale facilities and ‘Green Electricity’.

We’ll also be engaging with the various procurement policies including how we boost our own and our supply chain partners compliance to the modern slavery statement.

And we’re accelerating our focus on growing our SME spend through our supply chains. Our SME engagement statistics for 21/22 are outstanding (total SME spend for technology through CCS agreements was £1.88bn, representing 25% of direct spend) but there’s more to do.

How is the technology commercial team investing in / improving commercial capability for our customers?

During 2021/22 we recorded strong spend growth. £27.6 billion of public sector spend was channelled through our agreements, doubling our spend from 5 years ago.

The more spend that comes through our agreements, the more money we can generate to re-invest in raising the bar, investing in our own commercial capability and sharing that knowledge and expertise with our customers. For example, right now we’re working to help our customers continue their digital transformation journeys. We support the cross-government technology code of practice, which is a set of criteria to help the public sector design, build and buy the very latest technology. The code of practice forms the basis of our new guide to digital transformation in local government, which we’ve created to help local authorities improve services for their citizens. We’ve aligned where our technology commercial agreements can support with addressing the key points in the guide.