Official UK procurement notice
Pensions Administration Software · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Pension Protection Fund (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWe are reviewing our pension administration software solution and wish to engage with the market to explore potential solutions. We want to understand what solutions may exist to meet our existing needs, as well as exploring enhancements that might be available to meet future needs.
We ultimately seek a solution which will streamline pension administration for our members and future members, enhance user experience, provide modern digital tools and capabilities, and ensure compliance with legislative and regulatory standards.
As of 31 March 2024, we administer the pensions for 432,496 of our members and payout approximately £1.2bn per year in member benefits.
Our existing pensions administration contract expires 31 March 2029.
All details contained in this notice are our genuine best estimate but are subject to change.
CPV: Pension fund administration services · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Pension Protection Fund buys Pension services (CPV 6652), and who usually turns up
Pension Protection Fund’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Pension services (CPV 6652) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in Greater London.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 37 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid27%
2–327%
4–618%
7+27%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate33%
Within ±2%50%
Above estimate17%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 6652Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 126 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid12%
2–352%
4–633%
7+3%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 1 Apr 2025, 09:54 BST
- Last source update
- 26 Jun 2026, 14:18 BST
- Authority reference
CS0631- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-060393- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fb0cFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
1 Apr 2025 → 1 Apr 2029 · 5 dates- Planning notice published1 Apr 2025, 09:54 BST
- Latest notice published118 days ago26 Jun 2026, 14:18 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Market engagement31 Mar 2028, 23:59 BST
UPDATE 26 June 2026
Dear Suppliers,
Further to our previous communication regarding the delay to the Pension Administration Software procurement, we wish to provide an update on the anticipated timetable.
Following the wider programme review across strategic initiatives, the procurement is now expected to be paused for a prolonged period.
At this stage, the procurement will not progress before January 2028, with ITT publication due in April 2028. This reflects the need to align the project with revised organisational priorities resulting from the emergence of mandatory statutory projects requiring substantially the same resource.
The PPF has appropriate contractual provisions in place within the current service arrangement to ensure continuity of service during any implementation period in the event that a different service provider is appointed following the procurement.
These dates should be regarded as an estimate. We will continue to keep the market informed of any material developments or changes to this position via the publication of appropriate FTS notices.
We thank you for your continued interest and engagement to date.
Kind regards,
PPF
UPDATE 27 March 2026
Dear Suppliers,
We wish to inform you that the publication of the planned Pension Administration Software procurement will be delayed.
The original timetable anticipated publication in late March 2026. However, following the second Request for Information (RFI), we received a significant volume of supplier feedback, which we are currently reviewing in detail.
In addition, a programme-wide review is underway covering all strategic projects scheduled for delivery within the forthcoming 2026/27 Business Plan. This review is likely to result in revisions to the timelines for a number of projects, including this procurement.
We will provide a further update as soon as the revised timetable has been formally approved.
Kind regards
PPF
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This is not a call for competition.
We intend to conduct preliminary market engagement as follows:
Phase One - April - June 2025
- Issue Preliminary Market Engagement Notice and RFI Questionnaire
- Request demonstrations from interested suppliers
Please note we plan to draft our detailed requirements and contract terms between June 2025 and January 2026.
Phase Two - Jan - Feb 2026
- Issue draft contract and detailed requirements to interested suppliers for comment
Phase Three - March - April 2026
- Determine route to market and potentially arrange further supplier discussions for detailed requirements feedback
This Preliminary Market Engagement process will be conducted on the PPFs eTendering portal at: ppf.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗
To access the RFI Questionnaire, please register on our eTendering portal (if you haven't done so already), and follow the steps to pqq_54 - RFI Questionnaire - Pensions Software Solution Review (PSSR).
- Tender notice expected1 Apr 2028, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Apr 2029, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 Apr 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 Apr 2025, 09:54 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Mar 2026, 11:49 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published26 Jun 2026, 14:18 BSTUK2
Published amendments (2)
Update to Engagement process description as follows: UPDATE 27 March 2026 Dear Suppliers, We wish to inform you that the publication of the planned Pension Administration Software procurement will be delayed. The original timetable anticipated publication in late March 2026. However, following the second Request for Information (RFI), we received a significant volume of supplier feedback, which we…
UPDATE 26 June 2026 Dear Suppliers, Further to our previous communication regarding the delay to the Pension Administration Software procurement, we wish to provide an update on the anticipated timetable. Following the wider programme review across strategic initiatives, the procurement is now expected to be paused for a prolonged period. At this stage, the procurement will not progress before Jan…
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender