Pension investment services

Tender description

The Welsh LGPS Pension Funds wish to appoint a regulated third party operator to provide 1 or more collective vehicles in order to benefit from economies of scale from the management of Welsh pension fund assets. Further background can be found in the attached July submission. The administering authorities are considering the scope and specification of services required. At the end of the fixed contract term the authorities will have the option of re-tendering the services to a third party or transferring the services to an owned entity. This PIN process will (a)help inform the specification of services for an Invitation to Tender (ITT) which is expected to follow later this year and (b) Identify suppliers who may be interested in bidding. The tender may be divided into lots for ‘core’ services and 1 or ‘additional services’. A final decision on the form of tender process has not yet been made (e.g. full OJEU process or a non-OJEU process under financial services exemption). Respondents may include organisations who offer 1) only core services* or 2) core services and some/all of the additional services in II.2.14) *It is recognised that suppliers may or may not sub-contract elements of the core and additional services to its own third party suppliers where regulations permit* The operator is expected to have the ability to provide the following ‘core services’ 1) Establish and operate an ACS and other regulated and unregulated vehicles as required 2) Prepare, maintain and adhere to policies and processes required by regulators (including the FCA) in relation to the operation of selected investment vehicles including provision of regulatory capital 3) Establish and manage a range of sub-funds 4) Carry out due diligence, contract with, monitor and provide oversight of investment managers and other third parties 5) Report investment manager performance to funds/pool 6) Maintain pricing of assets/shares, publish prices, issue/redeem shares.