Pensions Administration Software · UK public procurement notice

CPV: Pension fund administration services

Procedure method

Negotiated without publication of a contract notice

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Competitive procedure

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

28 Feb 2022, 17:36 GMT

Last source update

28 Feb 2022, 17:36 GMT

Authority reference

DN599999

FTS notice number

2022/S 000-005472

Classification (CPV)

Pension fund administration services

Delivery area

West Midlands (UKG39)

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-031bfc Find a Tender

Why no open competition

The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons

Published justification

Wolverhampton City Council, the administering authority for West Midlands Pension Fund (WCC) issued an invitation to tender for pensions administration software and services in 2021. Following evaluation bids were tied and the procurement for this service was discontinued.

A revised invitation to tender was subsequently issued and after an extended clarification period the outcome was not settled until November 2021. As a result, the contract with the incumbent provider will shortly expire. The contract with the new provider has been executed, mobilisation has commenced, and the new system is due to go live from 1st April 2023.

Due to the critical nature of the pensions administration system which supports the pensions of 330,000 members it is imperative that this system is maintained with the incumbent provider until the new system goes live next year.

WCC has made enquiries with regard to utilising a call off contract from the Crown Commercial Service G Cloud Framework but was informed that due to the current system being on-premise it would not be a viable option to migrate to the cloud for what is such a short term requirement.

Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, provides that a contract may be awarded under the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice where the works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator because competition is absent for technical reasons.

Given the technical nature of the system and the timescale required to implement a new system the incumbent provider is the only economic operator who can provide this service without which WCC cannot operate the pension fund.

WCC believes there is no reasonable alternative or substitute available and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement. The contract is awarded for the shortest period available to allow the new provider time to implement their new system.

A 10 day standstill period period will now commence which will expire on the at midday on the 11th March, following this WCC will award a contract to the current incumbent supplier for a 12 month period

• Civica UK LimitedAwarded supplier Southbank Central, 30 Stamford Street, London, West Midlands, SE1 9LQ

No document links were published on the notice.