Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2021-04-22
Buyer: Statens Pensjonskasse Forvaltningsbedrift
Country: NO
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 48000000 | 48400000 | 48410000 | 48411000 | 48440000

Technical requirements: The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) manages the assets of the Pension Scheme for Pharmacy Sector (POA). Assets under management were approx. NOK 12 000 000 000 at the end of 2020. The assets are invested across a broad range of different financial instruments and asset classes.
Reliable IT support systems that are well adapted to the organisation's scope and complexity are an important input factor for an efficient, secure, and well-functioning capital management operation. The aim of this survey and a possible future procurement is to ensure the best possible operational conditions on the system side for the asset management activities in the coming years. We would like to gain a better understanding of the market for IT system support for asset management. In particular we would like to map potential suppliers that are able to offer the required functionality and, at the same time, a level of IT system support which presents a good fit for our organization in terms of scope.
The asset management division of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK asset management) manages the assets of the Pension Scheme for the Pharmacy Sector (POA). POA is a pension scheme for employees in the Norwegian pharmacy sector, and it is regulated by a statutory law. The law states that the scheme shall be managed by SPK.
Assets under management amount to approx. NOK 12 000 000 000. POA has a long-term investment horizon, and the transaction volume is relatively limited. The investment mandate allows for the use of a number of different assets classes and a broad range of financial instruments.
The asset management organization has three investment managers and four employees in Back- and Middle-office functions. In addition to basic Back- and Middle-office tasks, these functions hold extensive responsibilities related to reporting, accounting, compliance, and risk management.
On top of information systems for macro and market data, SPK asset management currently uses three main IT systems — a portfolio management system, a system for trade order management, and a risk management system. The systems are closely integrated, and data continually flows between them. Back- and Middle-office personnel are the main users of the systems, with the exception of entering executed trades. Information systems for macro and market data are not included in this survey.
The overall system portfolio should, to the highest extent possible, contribute to efficient and secure operations across all of the asset management function’s areas of responsibility. POA requires daily updates of market values, yield, risk and results. Risk and results are measured both at a consolidated level and at several different levels of detail.
The systems must be able to handle all normal financial instruments, including investments in different currencies - and should, as a minimum, cover the following functions:
Production of data for reports used in the daily operational management of the investment portfolio, as well as periodic reports for the management and board on, amongst other things, results, risk, and compliance.
The systems that are used by the asset management operations of POA must be compatible with other IT systems within SPK. SPK's main activity is to manage the pension rights for public entities and Norwegians who are employed or have previously been employed in the public sector. SPK does not manage any assets related to this part of the business. Several of the systems that are used in the core activities are developed in-house, and a large share of SPK's internal IT resources are mainly engaged in the development and operation of these systems.
SPK utilizes modern, standardized, off-the-shelf software for organization-wide services such as Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise, and conforms with the suppliers' desired maintenance plans. We are highly focused on security, and have a strict access regime. We willingly choose cloud services! Client software installations are automated and distributed centrally. We require a well-functioning and easily accessible user support from all our external partners.
As a government management company, SPK has clearly defined cost efficiency requirements. POA aims to secure its members' future pensions without inflicting unnecessary costs on members or their employers. In our assessments of cost/benefit for IT system support, the size of assets under management and the number of employees in asset management are also key elements.
We encourage suppliers that provide IT support services that match our needs to respond to this market survey. We kindly ask that suppliers describe their systems relative to the requirements we describe and preferably state experience from comparable deliveries. Furthermore, we would like suppliers to state a rough cost level for the recommended solution (non-binding). We will treat all responses and cost estimates as confidential. Responses may be in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or English. Tenderers are otherwise free to decide the layout and form of their response.