16 March 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor
Colin Lyne retired last month from his high-profile position as commercial director for the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA).
Lyne has held the role - one of the most senior appointments to be created for purchasing in central government - for the past two-and-a-half years.
He joined the then Lord Chancellor's Department - now DCA - in 1999 as director of purchasing and contract management. In October 2003 he was appointed commercial director responsible for the strategic planning, delivery and review of all DCA projects involving commercial expenditure.
Lyne considers his major achievement at DCA was "changing the way the game was played".
"There's still more to be done," he said. "For a function that matters you need the culture and management at board level to understand its importance and skilled practitioners just below board level to make sure it happens."
While at DCA, Lyne, a past CIPS president, oversaw a procurement budget of £3 billion. Among his achievements was his significant role in solving the "Libra crisis" - the magistrates' court IT system budgetary overspend.
He also set up the DISC programme, one of the largest ICT projects in central government, which aims to simultaneously replace all contracts.
Lyne was responsible for the DCA's response to the Gershon efficiency review, he assisted with the formation of Her Majesty's Courts Service and improved the efficient use of the £2.5 billion courts' estate by 16 per cent.
While he may have retired from the DCA, he is not giving up work. He is planning to stay on as a consultant for two government departments and hopes to continue his work as one of the Office of Government Commerce's gateway reviewers of high-risk projects.
SMmar2006
