Project Metz

Bulk Purchase Annuity Buy- in

Additional information: Award Notice. Please note due to the nature of the contract the exact contract length cannot be determined, to accommodate this the contract length for the purposes of this notice has been set at 9999 months. The contract will have no fixed end date

Wirral Council in its capacity as the Administering Authority of the Merseyside Pension Fund (the “Fund”) wishes to purchase a bulk annuity to be held as a long term investment in respect of all pensions in payment (except Children’s pensions) and all other members who are no longer actively accruing benefits within the Fund which are attributed to Arriva Merseyside Limited.

The assets for the Employer as a whole (i.e. including actives, deferreds and pensioners) at 28 February 2023 were approximately £230m. The Employer was approximately fully funded on its funding basis as at 28 February 2023. The deferred and pensioner liabilities on that basis are estimated to be approximately £200m at that date. This is on an approximate roll forward calculation from the 31 March 2022 valuation data.

The procurement is expected to develop as follows:

An RFP, membership data and benefit information will be issued to all bidders that pass the SQ stage. The RFP will set out further details of the requirements of the Project, including the criteria against which proposals will be assessed and the process for negotiation.

The negotiation process is a “two round” process with an initial proposal on which feedback will be provided, followed by a “best and final” proposal prior to the Fund selecting a bidder with which to enter exclusivity to finalise the contractual terms of the proposal. The Client intends to invite the 3 bidders who submit the best 3 scores (subject to meeting minimum criteria) to participate in Round

Timeframe Task Description

September 2023 Contract Notice published Contract Notice published on Find a Tender Service and SQ made available to prospective bidders

11 September 2023 to 16 October 2023 Introductory calls Bidders are invited to request to attend one introductory conference call with Mercer as advisors to the Authority.

31 October 2023 SQ submission deadline Bidders are required to submit their SQ responses by no later than 12:00 on this date

7 November 2023 SQ outcome Bidders will be notified in writing of the outcome of the SQ process

8 November 2023 RFP Round 1 released The RFP will be released via CHEST to all bidders who met the SQ requirements.

15 January 2024 RFP Round 1 response deadline Bidders must submit a complete response to the RFP via CHEST by 12:00 on this date.

29 January 2024 Clarifications As necessary, questions of clarification may be raised with you by Mercer or the Authority via CHEST in order that an appropriate score can be awarded.

12 February 2024 RFP Round 2 released All bidders will be provided with feedback on their scores and 3 bidders will be invited to submit a best and final proposal.

12 March 2024 RFP Round 2 response deadline Bidders must submit a complete response to the RFP via CHEST by 12:00 on this date.

26 March 2024 Clarifications As necessary, questions of clarification may be raised with you by Mercer or the Authority via CHEST in order that an appropriate score can be awarded.

15 April 2024 Standstill starts Bidders will be notified of the outcome of the procurement process and the start of the standard period

26 April 2024 Standstill ends The 10 day standstill period will expire

May 2024 Transaction The Client expects the transaction to take place in May 2024

The contract will be effective from the date it is executed by all relevant parties and will remain in place until the final beneficiary eligible for benefits under the contract (either in their own right or as a contingent beneficiary) has died. Additional information: This will be in 2 stages Stage 1 SQ - which will not be restricted to any number of bidders .

A minimum of 3 top scored suppliers then being put through to Stage 2 - the ITT stage.

Please note due to the nature of the contract the exact contract length cannot be determined, to accommodate this the contract length for the purposes of this notice has been set at 9999 months. The contract will have no fixed end date

FOR ALL QUERIES, ACCESS TO DOCUMENTATION, EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST, SUBMISSIONS PLEASE ACCESS VIA THE OPPORTUNITY ON THE CHEST PORTAL VIA http://www.the-chest.org.uk