Tata to sign Nest contract before general election
Share
The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority has announced Tata Consultancy Services as the successful bidder for the National Employment Savings Trust scheme administration services.
Pada intends to sign a contract with TCS later this month, before the general election.
The Conservatives are planning to review the Nest scheme if they win the election and Work and Pension Shadow Secretary Nigel Waterson has said it is imperative contracts are not signed before then.
Pada revealed in December that Great-West Retirement Services had withdrawn from the administrator bidding process leaving just Tata in the running. The Liberal Democrats claimed Tata had Pada “over a barrel”.
Logica UK withdrew from the competitive dialogue process for the contract in November.
The contract is divided into two stages and runs for 10 years, with possible extensions for up to a further five years. The first stage will run to October 2010, allowing TCS to begin the activity required to set up and administer Nest.
Prior to the expiry of the first stage, a decision will be made on whether to proceed with the contract for the remainder of the contract term.
Pada chief executive Tim Jones says: “This is excellent news. As we proceeded through our detailed procurement process TCS emerged as an extremely strong bidder, both in terms of their capabilities in pension administration and in their ability to provide value for money for Nest members.
“Signing the contract early, in stages, allows us to get on with our work to deliver Nest.”
Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society Angela Eagle says: “I congratulate TCS on their success in the competition to provide the scheme administration services for Nest, which will be central to the new pensions landscape.
“Together with automatic enrolment, Nest will help millions of people save for their retirement, with a guaranteed employer and Government contribution.”
Tata Consultancy Services chief executive N. Chandrasekaran says: “TCS is delighted to be confirmed as the preferred bidder to deliver the Nest scheme administration solution and services.
“This project will make a difference to millions of people in the UK and we are fully committed to it. Our selection as the preferred bidder demonstrates our strong domain and solution expertise and highlights our commitment to the UK public sector.
“We are happy to be part of a project that benefits the broader UK economy by helping create real value for UK society and delivering world class services to its citizens.
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing
View results 10 per page | 20 per page
Readers' comments (17)
PensionMan | 2 Mar 2010 10:49 am
How can any party class this as a victory?
No big player in the TPA industry in the UK wanted to touch this disaster waiting to happen!
Not really a competition if there is only one company involved!
Oh dear!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 2 Mar 2010 10:59 am
I really would be disappointed if it turned out a major political donation had sealed this contract
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 2 Mar 2010 10:59 am
This may be a help to millions of young people with time to save but it could be a disaster for older people who have no other retirement provision buy lifting their income above benefit levels.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Sir Malcs | 2 Mar 2010 11:00 am
Pada? Tata?
Sounds like an episode of Teletubbies.
How apt!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Simon | 2 Mar 2010 11:03 am
I do not believe that this present Government should be signing the Country up to contracts that could easily be cancelled after the election.
The election should give us as a Country time to reflect on what services we as Taxpayers should be paying for and which are not viable.
There should be a period of time before an election that major contracts cannot be signed. It may not be in our interests for contracts to be signed and then cancelled at a cost to us..
Politicians will not listen and go happily into setting up these contracts costing us money.
I believe that NEST is a waste of time and the funding should be going into making the State Pension better with more money allocated to this.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 2 Mar 2010 11:06 am
I can't wait for this to happen, just wait until the millions of NEST users try to make any sense of what is going on with their contributions. They will no doubt be able to speak to their friendly Indian call centre, at which point they'll come flocking back to UK advisers for help. Of course they won't be able to afford our fees an they can thank the Government and FSA for improving their 'outcomes'.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 2 Mar 2010 11:23 am
Exactly what I was thinking. All those contributers information sent over to another country with access to wages, employer and personal data...wonderful!
I for one won't let any of my details go there if I can help it.
I fully agree this should wait until after the election where it can be fully discussed.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Rob N | 2 Mar 2010 11:53 am
The contract will presumably contain large penalty clauses prevented the next (presumably Conservative) government from pulling NEST hence Waterson's concerns. Maybe TCS threatened to pull out if a contract was not offered before the GE?
Oh to be a fly on the wall...
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Voice of reason | 2 Mar 2010 12:03 pm
We spend millions and millions of taxes on PADA yet the simple solution was to for the Govt to say that from 2010 contributions of a least 3%/3% must be made to existing Stakeholder Plans.
They are already set up, the charges are capped, members often have a reasonable choice of funds, most have lifestyling, they are easily moved from one employer to another, death benefit is 100% return of fund. The providers for all their faults generally administer them well.
No, this is too simple an option and Labour can't control where people invest their fund.
My big worry about NEST is that a Labour Govt will dictate where they fund is invested i.e used to fund Govt debt via the enforced purchase of Gilts.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
john | 2 Mar 2010 12:05 pm
it is outrageous to sign this prior to the election
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment