Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2020-09-01
Buyer: Scottish Public Pensions Agency
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
CPV classification: 48000000 | 48812000: Financial information systems | 66000000 | 66520000 | 72000000
Estimated value: 10000000 GBP

Technical requirements: The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Its principal role is to administer the pensions, premature retirement and injury benefits schemes for employees of a range of organisations currently including:
In total SPPA administers pensions, premature retirement and injury benefit schemes on behalf of almost 600 000 members.
The purpose of this PIN is to initiate engagement with the market for the provision and procurement of solutions required to manage the administration of pensions, payments and the provision of related customer and employer organisation interfaces and services.
To perform its responsibilities regarding the pensions schemes under management the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) requires software solution(s) to: administer pensions; coordinate the collection of contributions; provide benefit entitlement calculations; and administer payments. The solutions should be capable of being scaled to accommodate the schemes currently administered by SPPA (currently including NHS, teachers, fire and rescue and police services in Scotland covering approximately 600 000 members) as well as other schemes that SPPA may take on responsibility for the management and/or administration of in the future. This may include taking on elements of the local government pension scheme; other public sector schemes; and/or selected private schemes.
In addition to the requirements set out above, SPPA are also seeking solutions with features and functionality that could deliver: on-line self service facilities for scheme members covering a range of platforms and channels; integration with voice based telephony services which may include the use of chat bots; data integration and interface coordination services with employer organisations and payment management services; analytics and reporting capabilities to cover the full range of activities being undertaken as well as potential linkages with other public and private data services; management of data to include validation, enhancement and augmentation; workflow, activity and task management; and, opportunities for process automation and machine based learning.
SPPA is currently developing a digital strategy for the next decade, this PIN has been issued for the purpose of seeking views from potential providers and partners regarding delivering of part or all of the range of services as described above.
Details in this PIN relate specifically to SPPA. It should be noted however that the agency is engaging closely with cabinet office and department for education who are currently considering future requirement regarding the administration of civil service pension scheme, royal mail statutory pension scheme and the teachers’ pension scheme respectively along with other public sector organisations engaged in the administration (or commissioning of administration services) of public sector pension schemes.
SPPA are seeking to offer potential providers the opportunity for one to one discussions with the project team during September and October 2020 prior to the launch of a formal competition, currently expected to commence in January 2021. Parties interested in participating should email SPPAProcurement@gov.scot indicating ‘Pension Platform PIN’ in the title.
Potential providers will not be prejudiced by any response to this PIN, or failure to respond. This PIN does not formally signify the beginning of a procurement and does not constitute a commitment by SPPA to undertake any procurement exercise.
Please note the contract value quoted is an estimate based on SPPA’s current requirements and expectations only.
Note: to register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=629019.


Award value: 10000000