INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PENSIONS ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PENSIONS ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

1. Introduction The Institute of Public Administration is inviting proposals for the supply and installation of a Pensions Administration system and associated services including consultancy. 2. IPA Background The Institute of Public Administration (IPA) is the Irish national centre for development of best practice in public administration and public management which is tailored to the needs of public servants. The Institute is a limited company with charitable status which is in existence since 1957. The IPA has approximate staff numbers of 125 based in its Head Office in 57-61 Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4 and Vergemount Hall, Clonskeagh, Dublin 6. There are approx 150 deferred members of the Superannuation Scheme. More information concerning the Institute is contained in its web site at www.ipa.ie. 3. Business Context and Objectives All staff in the IPA are members of the IPA Superannuation Scheme which is a funded defined benefit scheme. The administration of the scheme has always been managed by an outside company. The IPA now wishes to manage the administration of the scheme in-house. The IPA are seeking to introduce a system whereby pension information can be generated efficiently in a format that is easily understood. The IPA Superannuation Scheme is a member of the Public Service and Local Government Transfer Network and provides the following (a) (b) Personal Benefits, i.e. pensions and lump sums awarded to retired employees and death gratuities awarded in respect of employees who die during service the scheme which provide these benefits is the IPA Superannuation (Consolidation) Scheme 2007. Spouses and Children s Benefits, i.e. pensions awarded to the spouse and dependent children of employees who die either during service or after retirement the rules which provide for these benefits are part of the 2007 Consolidation Scheme. All employees pay class A PRSI 1

Within these schemes there are certain differences in application as follows: Intigration with Social Welfare Payments: Pensions of employees appointed on or after 1 January 1977 are integrated with social welfare old age pension Pensions of employees appointed on or before 31 st December 1976, are not integrated with the social welfare old age pension; Contributions Main Scheme: Employees appointed on or before 31 st December 2004 make no contribution to the main scheme. Employees appointed on or after 1 st January 2005 pay 3.5% of net pensionable salary, i.e. salary less twice the rate of State Pension, plus 1.5% of pensionable salary towards the cost of superannuation Contribution Spouses & Children: Employees who joined the spouses and children s scheme before 1 January 1982 made/make no contributions (see paragraphs 24.4 and 27.10 of 2007 Scheme). Employees who joined the spouses and children s scheme on or after 1 January 1982 (see paragraphs 24.4 and 27.10 of 2007 Scheme) contribute 1.5% of net pensionable salary i.e. salary less twice the rate of State Pension plus 1% of net pensionable remuneration i.e. pensionable remuneration less twice the rate of the State Pension. The IPA Superannuation Scheme is modeled closely on Public Service Pensions Schemes generally. The following web-site contains detailed information on the Civil Service Pensions Scheme and explains most of the terms used in this document Civil Service Pensions Information Centre. Also attached is a link to the latest piece of legislation governing Public Service Pensions Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2005. A copy of the IPA Superannuation Scheme and Spouses and Childrens Schemes is available from dlynch@ipa.ie Further links to relevant Government circulars are given in the document below. 4. Functional Requirements Provision of a software system for Pensions Administration that meets the requirements of administering the IPA Superannuation and Spouses and Childrens Schemes and related Public Sector model requirements. 2

Performing Pension Calculations 4.1 Must have the ability to calculate pensionable service. 4.2 Must perform all pension calculations, including member and spouse s and children s pensions and preserved pensions. 4.3 Must perform lump sum calculations, including retirement lump sum, death in service gratuity and preserved lump sum and death gratuity 4.4 Must have the ability to calculate and record contributions payable under the IPA Superannuation (Consolidation) Scheme 2007, including contributions towards spouses and children s pensions... 4.5 Must have the ability to calculate and record contributions in respect of Purchased Service Explanation of Purchased Service 4.6 Must perform social welfare integration calculations. Dept. of Finance Circular 19/2005 4.7 Must provide for multiple Salary definitions e.g. Part Time Staff, Averaging of salaries in certain cases and staff working reduced hours 4.8 Must provide for the calculation of Additional Notional Service.eg. illhealth added years Explanation of Notional Service Producing Statements of Benefits 4.9 Must provide Benefit Statements for the following: Normal Retirement at age 65 or thereafter for new entrants (2004 Act) Early Retirement at age 60 or 65 for new entrants (2004 Act) Death in Service Death after retirement Preserved benefits/deferred benefits Actuarially Reduced Benefits (Cost Neutral Early Retirement) Retirement on the grounds of ill health Added years Estimate of future pension entitlement Ad-hoc statements Data Migration 4.10 Must allow for transfer of Institute staff details via export from Intelligo Software VIP Manager and import into the Pensions system. 3

General 4.11 Must allow for Transfer of Service. Explanation of Transfer of Service Scheme 4.12 Must allow for periods of part time work, in particular the ability to record such service by reference to full-time equivalent hours and change contributions accordingly. Dept. of Finance Circular 20/2005 4.13 Must allow for periods of leave of absence 4.14 The pensions administration system must have the capacity to store upto-date IPA salary scales (11). It must be capable of storing points on salary scales and updating individuals records as salary scales are updated. System Administration 4.15 System must allow for the flexibility to record text-based fields against pensioners/staff/deferred pensioners as required from time to time without complicated system redesign. 4.16 System must contain a user administration function that will allow for creation and modification of users, user groups and security. This module should allow an administrator user to define user details including passwords. It should also allow for definition of user and group roles and permissions. 4.17 System must contain an administrative module for maintaining Contributory Old Age Pension rates and for other reference details such as Disability Allowances etc. Systems Reports 4.18 The system must be able to facilitate report writing where administrators can create their own reports and save and modify as appropriate. 4.19 System must have the ability to produce flexible exports of data in different formats. 4.20 System must facilitate the definition of a number of standard reports at implementation stage 4.21 System must allow production of reports via crystal reporting. 4

5. Technical Requirements 5.1 System must have Microsoft SQL and facilitate crystal reporting. 5.2 The hardware and software requirements for the backend database should be provided. 6. Other Services 6.1 Consultancy to assist in the following: software installation and system setup user training specifying export from the VIP Manager HR System as per paragraph 4.10 and allowing the import of this data into the proposed Pensions system completion of user manuals 6.2 Annual maintenance and support. This should include receipt of software upgrades and provision of a helpdesk support service. 6.3 User manuals and system documentation. 6.4 Details of minimum hardware specifications are required for the database server, web server if proposed and for individual clients. 7. Timescale for Implementation 7.1 The system must be tested and implemented in full by the end of April 2008. 7.2 Only proposals where suppliers already have a proven live working experience of implementation of the Pensions Administration System software for defined benefit pensions schemes will be considered. 8. Additional Consultancy Please quote for cost of additional consultancy over and above number of days that it is felt necessary to meet the requirements in Sections 4-6 above. This should be quoted on a daily rate. These consultancy days would be drawn down over a two-year period after the block of work specified above is completed. 9. Tender Content Suppliers should provide the following information: A full description of the proposed work and an explanation of how it will meet the functional/system requirements under Sections 4 & 5 of this document. 5

Number of days required to carryout the consultancy as outlined in Sections 6 and the total vat-inclusive cost and per-day cost of this consultancy including training and provision of manuals. Identify vat-rate applying. Vat-inclusive costs for software licenses for 4 users with full administrative access to the system. Vat-inclusive costs for provision of additional days consultancy specified in Section 8 and to be drawn-down over a 2-year period. Reference sites including those in the Public Sector. Confirmation that software will be implemented within the timescale specified in Section 7. Details and cost of annual support arrangements that will be provided. Details of proposed project management. Details of numbers and background of personnel to work on the project. 10. Requirements in submitting the Proposal Proposals are required to contain all of the information specified in Section 9 above. Three typed copies of proposals should be submitted in a sealed envelope by 5pm on Wednesday 19 th December 2007 and clearly marked IPA Pensions Administrations System and addressed to: Ms Dymphna Lynch, Head of HR Institute of Public Administration, 57-61 Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4. Proposals will not be accepted after the deadline. Any enquiries concerning this Request for Proposals should be made directly to Dymphna Lynch via e-mail only at dlynch@ipa.ie All enquiries must be made via e-mail. 11. Evaluation of Proposals Proposals will be evaluated initially by reference to the following qualification criteria: 6

(a.) Completeness of proposal documentation as specified in Section 8 of this document and (b.) Stated ability of the tenderer to meet all the minimum requirements specified in this document. Only those proposals which meet both of the above qualifying criteria will be eligible for inclusion in the award process. Depending on the number of proposals short listing may also be employed and those short listed may be requested to make a presentation. Award of the contract will be on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender applying the following award criteria: (a.) (b.) (c.) (d.) (e.) Overall quality of the proposed solution Familiarity with Public Service Model Pensions Requirements Reference Sites Full Costing Overall project schedule 12. General Conditions of Tender The following general conditions will apply. The contract will be a fixed price contract The timing of payments will be agreed at time of contract. The Institute requires that all information provided pursuant to the invitation for proposals will be treated in strict confidence. The Institute will not be liable in respect of any costs incurred in responding to the Request for Proposals. A contract will be awarded by the Institute on the basis of the criteria specified in Section 11 of this document. Prices and rates quoted should be expressed in EURO and inclusive of VAT with the appropriate VAT rate identified. Detailed contractual arrangements are not within the scope of this document. However, it should be noted that any conflicts of interest involving a contractor must be fully disclosed to the Institute, particularly where there is a conflict of interest in relation to any recommendations or proposals put forward by the tenderer. Before a contract is awarded the successful contractor (and agent where appropriate) will be required to produce a Tax Clearance Certificate promptly. In addition, contractors must retain records of tax reference numbers for any 7

sub-contractors where payments exceed 6,500 (incl. VAT). A successful nonresident contractor or sub-contractor will be required to produce a statement of compliance from the Revenue Commissioners. Where a Tax Clearance Certificate expires within the course of the contract the Institute reserves the right to seek a renewed certificate. All payments under the contract will be conditional on the contractors being in possession of a valid certificate at all times. The Institute undertakes to use its best endeavors to hold confidential, any information provided by you in this tender subject to the Institute s obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information Act which came into force on 21 April, 1998. Should you wish that any of the information supplied by you in this tender should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity, you should, when providing the information, identify the same and specify the reasons for its sensitivity. The Institute will consult with you about this sensitive information before making a decision on any Freedom of Information request receive 8

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