Voluntary ex ante transparency notice - Provision of Firefighter Pension Administration and Pensioner Payroll Services

A full pension administration service in respect of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme and includes workflow and document imaging functionality, pensioner payroll provision and a facility to make immediate payments and includes all active schemes. The requirement includes making the best use of systems including monthly data collection and employer on-line services.

It is considered that this contract can be placed using the Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication of a Contract Notice pursuant to Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 on the basis that the contract may be awarded only to the Company for technical reasons.

This VEAT notice is not a request for Expressions of Interest (EOI). This notice advises that County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority has decided to negotiate a contract with the named supplier on a single source basis and is published for reasons of transparency.

The contract would be awarded for a further 3 years support of the Firefighter's pension scheme.

Additional information: Negotiated without a prior call for competition

The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:

absence of competition for technical reasons

Explanation:

Regulation 32(2)(B)(ii) states:

2. The negotiated procedure without prior publication may be used for public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts in any of the following cases:-

(b)where the works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator for any of the following reasons:-

(i)competition is absent for technical reasons

The reasons for this are as follows:

1. In 2015, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Government's public sector pension changes unlawfully treated existing public sectors differently in relation to age discrimination. This is referred to as the McCloud Judgement. Public sector pension schemes are required to assess member benefits and make changes to member service, which will include paying compensation during the 'remedy period' which is April 2014 to March 2022.

The huge impact and timing of McCloud on LGPS funds means that it is not possible to scope the technical requirements or implement a transition to a new software supplier to coincide with the current contract cycle.

There is also the Matthews case which deals with a similar remedy for retained firefighters and is also having a huge impact.

2. The unreasonable cost (due to scarcity) of resource to dedicate to a transition to a new supplier, due to difficulty recruiting staff within the public sector pensions administration sector.

3.LGPS changes to the re-evaluation dates of the pensions have altered the technical parameters of the system. It would be a significant risk to move away from the incumbent system while this work is taking place.

4. The National Pension Dashboard, which is being developed by the Government will allow individuals to see all their pension benefits and pension savings in one place. It would be a significant risk to move away from the incumbent system before the due date as the transfer may jeopardise the ability to meet the onboarding deadlines.
5. The above changes in pensions regulations and associated law, which are outside the control of the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority means that the timescales required for procurement and transition to a new supplier (between 12 -18 months) are such that it is not technically possible for any other provider to fulfil the Authority's service requirements at the time required.

The intention will be to run a competitive procurement process at around the end of year 3 of the proposed new contract.

A 10-day standstill period will now commence which will expire midnight 23/02/2025