Pension Advisory Services

AI-generated analysis of the documents. Check the official notice and any amendments for current submission details.

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman_548 ran this procurement for “Pension Advisory Services” as an operational contract requiring implementation and sustained service execution. The extracted pack showed qualification-stage material with references to later ITT technical depth; practical activity therefore centred on building, integrating, and operating the specified service stack with compliant reporting and handover obligations where stated. Constituent activities and named work elements in the supplied extracts:

• Buyer: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman_548
• [RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] Page 1
• Scope of Contract: Pension Advisory Services
• will be dealt with/met and their approach to the proposed delivery of the services. A mere
• The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) was established on 01 January 2018
• against financial service providers or pension providers.
• The FSPO provides an independent, fair, impartial, confidential and free service to resolve
• [RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] to resolve complaints from consumers, including small businesses and other organisations,
• a consumer is unable to resolve a complaint or dispute with a financial service provider or
• organisation’s values and reflect the FSPO’s ambition to evolve and innovate its services and
• The work of the FSPO is funded through two sources; the management of financial service
• complaints is funded by a levy on the financial services industry and the management of Non-binding monetary references in the source were treated as context only and were not used as qualification thresholds.

3. Background & buyer context

The buyer context reflected a formal Irish public-procurement route, with pre-qualification used to control entry into the tender stage.

• The work of the FSPO is funded through two sources; the management of financial service
• complaints is funded by a levy on the financial services industry and the management of
• pension complaints is funded by the Exchequer, through the Department of Finance. The
• It is the policy of the Contracting Authority to promote participation by Small and Medium

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

• Turnover requirement — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• Insurance — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.; Insurance Confirmation of the following insurances being in place: • Employers Liability - €13 million • Public Liability - €6.5 million • Professional Indemnity - €1; 5 million • Professional Indemnity - €1.5 million 4
• Certifications — not specified for this tender
• Past experience — not specified for this tender
• Personnel — not specified for this tender
• Geographic / facility constraints — not specified for this tender Additional binding lines surfaced in the deterministic extract:
• — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• Insurance Confirmation of the following insurances being in place: • Employers Liability - €13 million • Public Liability - €6.5 million • Professional Indemnity - €1
• 5 million • Professional Indemnity - €1.5 million 4
• 2 Turnover Pass/Fail Please confirm Yes/No Confirmation that the tenderer / all parties associated with the tenderer have generated a minimum annual turnover of €35,000 for each of the three immediately preced
• Please confirm Yes/No I confirm that we have the following insurances in place: I confirm that we have the following insurances in place: Employers Liability - €13 million Public Liability - €6.5 million Professional Indemnity - €1

5. Award criteria & scoring

6. Submission requirements

• Method statement / response document (template/page limits) — not specified in extract.
• CVs (page count, named roles) — not specified in extract.
• Pricing schedule (format/template) — expected at ITT stage.
• Case studies (number/value range) — client references/comparable project evidence was referenced.
• Declarations (ESPD/Bona Fides/Tax/COI) — ESPD/declaration/statement-of-confirmation language was present.
• Mandatory site visit — not specified in extract.
• Submission portal and formatting — eTenders portal and PDF electronic copies were referenced. Submission-related source lines:
• [RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] Page 1
• Tender Postbox facility on www.etenders.gov.ie
• Portal www.etenders.gov.ie. Registration is free of charge and there is no charge for
• Tenderers must address each of the issues and requirements in this part of the RFT and submit
• [RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] to resolve complaints from consumers, including small businesses and other organisations,
• [RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] by the Exchequer, through the Department of Finance. The

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

Contract duration in the extract: 12 months. Payment cycle, SLA/KPI schedule, and penalty regime were not fully disclosed in the snippets unless listed below.

• VERIFIED PHRASES (deterministic regex extract from the documents — treat as authoritative for numerical claims)
• the term and any possible extensions is estimated to be not greater than €120,000, excluding
• The number and duration of extensions will be a
• maximum of two (2) x 12 months extensions
• a detailed description in each case which demonstrates how these issues and requirements
• Small and Medium Enterprise Participation
• It is the policy of the Contracting Authority to promote participation by Small and Medium
• SMEs are encouraged to explore the possibilities of forming relationships with other SMEs or

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Qualification gate: the deterministic extract included a turnover threshold line (— use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.), which can materially narrow bidder pool composition.
• The two-step process (PQQ then ITT) shifted effort to compliance evidence early, with competitive scoring detail potentially deferred.
• Technical and contractual granularity appeared ITT-dependent, increasing ambiguity at qualification stage for non-incumbent bidders.

10. SME fit assessment

This competition looked most accessible to firms with established public-sector tender capability, documented financial capacity, and direct operational experience in the relevant service category.

• Credible bidder profile — mid-sized to large specialist with formal QA/compliance process.
• Consortium / sub-contracting — allowed or addressed in the extracts (Appendix references and reliance provisions).
• Indicative bid-prep effort — 6 to 12 working days for evidence collation, form completion, and review cycles at PQQ level.
• Pwin signal — strongest for bidders with reusable qualification artefacts, comparable references, and low-friction mobilisation capability.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT/PQQ filenames: RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf, RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] Page 1, RFT and submit.
• eTenders CFT / notice reference: not specified in extract.
• Clarification contact / portal: eTenders message portal (email not surfaced in extract).
• Key attachments to prioritise: RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] to resolve complaints, RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] by the Exchequer, thro, RFT - Pension Advisory Services - FSPO 21032024 - Final.pdf] Relevant information r.