In 2021 the Cabinet Office initiated a high-profile Programme to deliver the procurement and implementation of the Pensions Administration Contracts for two schemes which it holds the role of Scheme Manager for, these being the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) and the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme (RMSPS). This is very technical Programme requiring public sector procurement, IT, Pensions and transformational change expertise. Its scope is extensive with the CSPS scheme being the 3rd largest UK occupational pension scheme, involving around 1.1 billion data items, 350 public and private sector employers and 1.6 million members and holds a highly sensitive data set which has national security implications if compromised. Whilst the RMSPS is currently the 6th largest public sector pension scheme in the UK, with approximately 365,000 members and required interfaces with the Royal Mail Pensions Partnership Scheme for joint members that span across both schemes. Due to its scope and risk exposure this is one of the flagship programmes in the Cabinet Office with the combined contract values of £350million, thus inviting scrutiny and interest of ministers, cross government senior leadership, unions, members and the media.
This is a very complex, lengthy and time restricted GMPP programme. Consequently, it required far more than a “run of the mill” Programme Director as it required someone who had specialist knowledge in pensions, procurement and business change as well as large scale programme delivery expertise. Furthermore, the scope of the role required the individual to have extensive strategic leadership capability to discharge their responsibility for providing direction and oversight to a number of programmes, technical teams and external suppliers. Due to Acuity’s extensive experience in Public Sector Pensions and cross government Programme delivery we were well suited to provide resource to meet this challenge, and as such Acuity has been providing the Programme Director for this programme since January 2021 and will continue to do so until the programme concludes. Key aspects of what this role are:
Programme Leadership:
Programme Delivery:
Specialist input:
The Programme has successfully delivered two complex ‘Competitive with Negotiation’ Procurement for contracts, and in doing so was commended for being one of the best run procurement Programmes in Cabinet Office by the Permanent Secretary and Chief Financial Officer. The programme has now entered into the Transition stage where the services will be migrated from existing contracts and suppliers to new ones. Acuity continue to provide Programme leadership and direction and are instrumental in ensuring that there is integration and understanding across all impacted stakeholders.