Investment Management System ("IMS")

Concepts

• sheffield
• information technology
• blackrock
• efront invest
• investment management system
• efront invest solution
• full investment administration cycle of its debt
• compatibility of the systems
• ims
• authority's intention

Location

United Kingdom:

Description

The Authority's intention is to award an investment management system ("IMS") contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio ("Portfolio"). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance.

Total Quantity or Scope

The Authority considers that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification. The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process: • Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority's service requirements and technical specification • An "RFI" was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy ("Suppliers") to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority's mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state • An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority's mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio • The Authority's business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers' sample offerings. This analysis concluded that the eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority's mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio. Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would incur unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including: • incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input • A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error • Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government • The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority's underlying infrastructure could impact the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also incur reputational risk • The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would create the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and has not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Legal Justification

The Authority's intention is to award an investment management system ("IMS") contract ("Contract") to BlackRock, relying on the exemption in Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication, on the basis that competition is absent for technical reasons. The IMS will allow the Authority to manage the full investment administration cycle of its debt and equity portfolio ("Portfolio"). The Contract covers implementation, migration support, professional services, licensing, and maintenance. The Authority considers that the Contract can be supplied only by BlackRock through its eFront Invest solution as BlackRock is uniquely able to provide certain mandatory requirements of the Authority's specification. The Authority reached that conclusion after the following due diligence process: • Engagement of an external consultancy with expertise in this area to prepare a market analysis of options available against the Authority's service requirements and technical specification • An "RFI" was undertaken with a shortlist of suppliers identified by the external consultancy ("Suppliers") to understand the technical capability and compatibility of the systems with the Authority's mandatory requirements and the unique breadth of its Portfolio both in its current and future state • An options report was prepared by the external consultancy which identified eFront Invest as the only solution able to meet the Authority's mandatory requirements, specifically in relation to fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio • The Authority's business architect completed a comparative analysis of the Suppliers' sample offerings. This analysis concluded that the eFront Invest offers a solution that can support the Portfolio, and that it has inbuilt functionality to support fee and waterfall modelling, flagging that these are mandatory requirements This due diligence established that alternative suppliers could not meet the Authority's mandatory requirements. Specifically, BlackRock is uniquely able to provide fee and waterfall modelling, API connectivity to ensure effective data ingestion and system integration, and the level of coverage required to support the Portfolio. Moreover, the only available alternatives to eFront Invest would incur unacceptable operational and accuracy risks including: • incurring operational and data accuracy risks due to managing multiple software solutions and using manual data entry input • A disaggregated solution increasing the risk of error • Inability to deliver on reporting and wider obligations to UK Government • The incompatibility of the alternative solutions to the Authority's underlying infrastructure could impact the traceability and transparency levels required to meet audit and reporting requirements which could also incur reputational risk • The lack of a full-service solution across all current and future requirements would create the need to maintain and potentially increase manual steps and End User Computing Solutions outside operational risk tolerance The Authority is confident that for the outlined reasons no reasonable alternative or substitute exists to eFront Invest. The Authority is also confident that its specification is reasonable and has not been artificially narrowed or constructed in such a way that only eFront Invest would be able to meet its requirements.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** Please note any dates provided in connection with the contract term are anticipated only. If any provider has any questions in relation to the commissioning intentions that are outlined within this VEAT notice, please raise this via procurement@british-business-bank.co.uk.