Andrew Forzani, a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Defence, has been appointed as the next government chief commercial officer.
Following the departure of Gareth Rhys Williams as GCCO in July, Marco Salzedo and Clare Gibbs have held the fort as joint interim government chief commercial officers while the search went on for his replacement.
Forzani, who is currently director general commercial at the MoD, said he is “extremely proud” to be appointed to the role “at a critical point for our function”.
“This is an exciting time for the UK government, with a unique set of challenges ahead of us,” he added.
“But as we have seen, a highly skilled and committed public procurement community has repeatedly stepped up to meet these challenges head on and I’m confident we can continue to do so.
“I look forward to working with the entire government commercial function community across the United Kingdom to ensure that every pound we spend or influence goes towards delivering great outcomes for the country and the Plan for Change.”
The appointment comes as the government prepares to introduce the Procurement Act 2023 this month and publish an updated National Procurement Policy Statement.
Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little said Forzani has “a wealth of senior commercial experience both within government and beyond, and will continue to drive excellence and commercial expert advice in everything we do”.
Forzani has more than 30 years of experience in commercial, procurement and supply-chain management. He has worked at the MoD since 2017, first as chief commercial officer before becoming DG commercial for the MoD and Defence, Equipment and Support in 2021. Before joining the MoD, he was chief commercial officer at the Department for Work and Pensions.
The GCCO is responsible for implementing professional standards for the around 6,000 commercial professionals in government, as well as leading and building strong commercial expertise across all government departments.