About

​Warren joined the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) in November 2012 with the irresistible lure of "come help fix information and communication technology (ICT) procurement". After various contracting roles he joined the UK Senior Civil Service in July 2016, and was responsible for ensuring that the UK government’s Digital Marketplace directly supported digital, data and technology reforms. He led the introduction of user-centred, design-led, data-driven and open approaches to public contracting - the foundation of the step-change in procurement envisioned in the UK Government Transformation Strategy.

 

These reforms dramatically diversified the government’s digital supply chains: there are over 7,000 suppliers available through the Digital Marketplace; over 90% are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and SMEs received over £1.19 billion of UK public spend in the year ending March 2021.

 

The UK government's Crown Commercial Service (CCS) annual report and accounts 2020 to 2021 states that £1.54 billion was spent directly with SMEs through their commercial agreements that year, representing an additional £302 million directly compared to the year ending March 2020. Digital Marketplace spend with SMEs therefore represented over 77% of all CCS direct spend, and over 99% of the annual increase (Digital Marketplace spend with SMEs in the previous year ending March 2020 was £894.7 million, so an increase of £302.2 million). Spend that year also exceeded the target set by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) UK Digital Strategy published in March 2017, which stated under strand 3 ‘The digital sectors - making the UK the best place to start and grow a digital business’ that the proportion of the total sales to SMEs in the Digital Marketplace to rise by 10% year-on-year, reaching at least £750 million a year by 2020.

 

Between January 2018 and July 2021, Warren led the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) funded GDS Global Digital Marketplace Programme, to:

 

• help governments in emerging economies make their procurement more transparent, and boost their domestic digital, data and technology sectors

• improve systems that govern public spending

• improve scrutiny through better quality, open data

• build institutional capability and capacity to ensure sustainable change

• support poverty reduction

 

These objectives were directed towards achieving 4 high level outcomes:

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• More inclusive procurement to stimulate equitable sustainable economies

• More efficient and effective procurement processes

• Increased transparency and accountability

• Digital transformation of government, nationally, regionally and locally

 

More diverse markets - where SMEs have greater access to government contracting opportunities - leads to increased competition, job creation, and the geographical distribution of public funds.
 

During his time at GDS, Warren also led a number of multilateral organisations’ Thematic Groups, focusing on mainstreaming internet-era approaches to digital public procurement:

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• the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials.

• the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 'United for Smart Sustainable Cities' (U4SSC).

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He also contributed as a peer reviewer to:

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• the OECD Working Party of Leading Public Procurement Practitioners.

• the OECD Working Party of Responsible Business Conduct.

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During his time at GDS, Warren was a keen contributor to various GDS blogs, either as author or co-author, as well as recording a number of internal and external podcasts, including:

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• We need a standard for sharing beneficial ownership data (April 2021)

• Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) Pulse on the Principles podcast, Season 4 Episode 1: The Procurement Pros (February 2021)

• Engaging UK suppliers in the Global Digital Marketplace Programme alpha phase (August 2019)

• We’re iterating the Supplier Standard (November 2017)

• Make procurement open: it makes government better (October 2017)

• GDS Podcast Episode #9: An interview with Chantal Donaldson-Foyer and Warren Smith on corruption and the Global Digital Marketplace (May 2019)

• GDS’s next top model contract (April 2017)

• Opening up government through open data standards (January 2017)

• Celebrating, sharing and reusing the Digital Marketplace (September 2016)

• Public Procurement Podcast (September 2016)

• Improving and opening up procurement and contract data (November 2015)

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Warren now co-leads a new U4SSC Working Group on Intergenerational Procurement for People-Centred Cities.

 

Warren will now be writing independently on the Dangersmith blog.