Official UK procurement notice
TEN-2425-042 Co-Design and Provision of a Bulk Deferred Annuity
Authority: National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) Corporation (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNest was seeking an insurer to partner with to develop a bulk deferred annuity.
We anticipate that the supplier appointed to partner with Nest for the co-design period would also be appointed to be the provider of the bulk annuity to Nest for an exclusive period.
Due to the complexity of the service and contract, the procurement was run as a full over threshold competitive flexible procedure with various stages.
- How the procedure runs: Nest is conducting the procurement in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 under the Competitive Flexible Procedure comprising a Participation Stage followed by the issue of an Invitation to Tender to shortlisted bidders. This will be followed by a dialogue stage, then an Invitation to Submit Final Tenders. At each stage Nest can reduce the number of bidders if required. Once the preferred bidder has been selected, Nest will enter into contract negotiations with the preferred bidder and upon completion will award the contract. The stages are listed below, please refer to the tender documentation for details of the indicative dates for each stage. Stage 1: Participation Stage Stage 2: Initial Tenders Stage 3: Dialogue Stage 4: Final Tenders Stage 5: Contract Negotiations Stage 6: Contract Award
CPV: Pension investment services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£0
- Condition of participationshortlisting
No
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- Procurement Specific Questionnaire: Used for Stage 1 Invitation to Participate - Will be a Pass/Fail Scoring Citeria
- Strategic Alignment: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria
- Strategic Partnership: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria
- Co-design requirements: resourcing and delivery approach: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria
- Co-design requirements: innovation and product development capability: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria
- Co-design requirements: pricing data and insight: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria - Will be a Pass/Fail Scoring Citeria for this question
- Ability to deliver the requirements of the bulk deferred annuity: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria
- Ability to deliver the requirements of the bulk deferred annuity pricing data: Stage 2 Initial Tenders Shortlisting Evaluation Criteria - Will be a Pass/Fail Scoring Citeria for this question
- Strategic Alignment: Stage 4 Final Tenders Award Evaluation Criteria
- Strategic Partnership: Stage 4 Final Tenders Award Evaluation Criteria
- Co-design requirements: resourcing and delivery approach: Stage 4 Final Tenders Award Evaluation Criteria
- Co-design requirements: innovation and product development capability: Stage 4 Final Tenders Award Evaluation Criteria
- Ability to deliver the requirements of the bulk deferred annuity: Stage 4 Final Tenders Award Evaluation Criteria
- Condition of participationshortlisting
No
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 25 Apr 2025, 10:29 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Feb 2026, 14:47 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 9 Jun 2025
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-016950- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05076bFind a Tender
- How it runs
Nest is conducting the procurement in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 under the Competitive Flexible Procedure comprising a Participation Stage followed by the issue of an Invitation to Tender to shortlisted bidders. This will be followed by a dialogue stage, then an Invitation to Submit Final Tenders. At each stage Nest can reduce the number of bidders if required. Once the preferred bidder has been selected, Nest will enter into contract negotiations with the preferred bidder and upon completion will award the contract. The stages are listed below, please refer to the tender documentation for details of the indicative dates for each stage.
Stage 1: Participation Stage
Stage 2: Initial Tenders
Stage 3: Dialogue
Stage 4: Final Tenders
Stage 5: Contract Negotiations
Stage 6: Contract Award
- Risks
It is not known how long the full term of the contract will be. The length of the co-design process to develop the bulk deferred annuity (Part A of the contract) and when the first transaction for a bulk deferred annuity will begin will be subject to discussions with the insurer, and the length of time to fulfil the exclusivity period will depend on member behaviour and asset flows (Part 2 of the contract).
The co-design process or policy/legislative change may also uncover additional requirements that could require a scope change.
If these risks crystallize:
- the contract may need to be extended beyond the original duration of 12 years plus the 2 year extension period.
- the scope of requirements may need to change to include areas uncovered as part of co-design and/or policy/legislative change.
- we do not know what the potential value to the supplier of the contract will be
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 27 May 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 27 May 2025, 17:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 9 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
25 Apr 2025 → 2 Feb 2026 · 10 dates- Planning notice published25 Apr 2025, 10:29 BST
- Tender notice published25 Apr 2025, 10:38 BST
- Next notice expected25 Apr 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by9 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline27 May 2025, 17:00 BST
- Award decision expected by9 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent332 days ago25 Nov 2025
- Standstill ends268 days ago27 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts267 days ago29 Jan 2026
- Latest notice published262 days ago2 Feb 2026, 14:47 GMT
Notice history
9 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 25 Apr 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Apr 2025, 10:29 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published25 Apr 2025, 10:38 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active25 Apr 2025, 10:38 BST
- Procurement method changed25 Apr 2025, 10:38 BST
- Contract award notice published16 Jan 2026, 10:00 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete16 Jan 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Procurement method changed16 Jan 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Contract signature expected28 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published2 Feb 2026, 14:47 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-04: 1 release · 25 Apr 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROTHESAY LIFE PLC28 Jan 2026 – 27 Jan 2038 · up to 27 Jan 2040Extensions: It is not known how long the full term of the contract will be. The length of the co-design process to develop the bulk deferred annuity (Part A of the contract) and when the first transaction for a bulk deferred annuity will begin are not known at contract signature and the length of time to fulfil the exclusivity period will depend on member behaviour and asset flows (Part 2 of the contract). The contract may need to be extended beyond the original duration of 12 years plus the 2 year extension period. · Options: The co-design process or policy/legislative change may uncover additional requirements that could require a scope change. | — | 25 Nov 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · ROTHESAY LIFE PLC
- Signed
- 28 Jan 2026
- Value
- —
- Period
- 28 Jan 2026 – 27 Jan 2038 · up to 27 Jan 2040 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- It is not known how long the full term of the contract will be. The length of the co-design process to develop the bulk deferred annuity (Part A of the contract) and when the first transaction for a bulk deferred annuity will begin are not known at contract signature and the length of time to fulfil the exclusivity period will depend on member behaviour and asset flows (Part 2 of the contract). The contract may need to be extended beyond the original duration of 12 years plus the 2 year extension period
No agreed KPIs: Not required at this stage
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders | 0 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- ROTHESAY LIFE PLCAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: All documentation will be provided at the Invitation to Participate Stage. The ITP will be updated to an ITT following completion of the Invitation to Participate Stage and could be updated at the end of each stage if required. Any updated ITT's will be issued via the Bravo Portal.
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender