The Register - Nest tosses £1.5bn pension admin service agreement out there
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Nest tosses £1.5bn pension admin service agreement out there for outsourcers to fight over
UK.gov-backed scheme confirms deal with Indian outfit Tata to end 2023
Outsourcing giants must be rubbing their hands with glee after the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) Corporation issued a tender for a £1.5bn contract to build the tech to run pension admin services.
Nest is a UK government-backed workplace pension scheme launched in 2011 that has signed up more than 730,000 local employers (eight million members) and has more than £6bn worth of assets under management.
The existing agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) expires in 2023 and work on the replacement is expected to start next year.
The tender was published in the Official Journal of the European Union(OJEU): "The Authority is seeking to procure a fully outsourced service for the build, delivery and operation of pension administration services."
That service, it added, "must support auto-enrolment and be delivered primarily via digital channels". Nest said the scheme administrator must also manage a range of services including enrolling members, collecting pension contributions and passing funds to the fund admin.
The contract is estimated to be worth £1.5bn over 18 years, though the minimum the programme will run for is a decade, the notice stated. It is not divided into lots and six candidates are being sought.
Once the talking is over, "remaining candidates will be invited to submit a final tender and the contact will be awarded to the most economically advantageous final tender". The winner will get to work on the new platform three years before it goes live to ensure a "safe migration".
"The savings sector, technology and customer expectations have evolved significantly over the past decade and this procurement presets an exciting opportunity for Nest," claimed Helen Dean, Nest CEO.
Applicants have until 17 June to file their responses with Nest. ®