David Williams joined NHS England in March 2020 as Director of Procurement in NHS England’s Commercial Directorate.

The NHS is one of the biggest commercial organisations in the country, buying on behalf of the fifth biggest employer in the world. The scale of commercial activity is significant, with around 4,000 commercial, procurement and supply management professionals spending £30 billion across approximately 80,000 suppliers, including medical goods and services, office supplies, cleaning, catering and transport services

David led the NHS system-wide delivery of the Procurement Target Operating Model programme (PTOM) to help drive greater collaboration across NHS procurement. In July 2022 David led its evolution into the Central Commercial Function (CCF), NHS England’s new commercial service offer to help maximise value for money for patients and taxpayers.

The CCF is already driving increased visibility and business intelligence through better data and technology to unlock significant benefits and savings and helping trusts and ICBs to leverage NHS buying power across different categories of spend.

Prior to joining the NHS, David was the Global Procurement Director at Tesco. He designed, built and led an integrated Procurement function capable of supporting all Tesco operating markets – the output of which could leverage the skill and scale of the whole organisation. He was also instrumental in leveraging benefits following Tesco acquisition of the Booker wholesale group, and the strategic alliance with Carrefour.

David champions sustainability in the supply chain and is passionate about ethical purchasing.  At Tesco he was Commercial lead for the removal of the single use plastic bags from stores and for the launch of the Tesco train (which significantly reduced emissions through transportation of goods by rail rather than road). As Fresh Produce buyer, he launched Fairtrade Bananas for customers, giving much needed support to plantation workers and their communities.