Procurement and transition of pension admin OBC and FBC
Procuring and transitioning high-profile pension administration business cases.
Programme direction for multiple pensions administration reprocurements
The Cabinet Office is the ‘scheme manager’ for the Civil Service Pensions Scheme (CSPS) and the Royal Mail Statutory Pensions Scheme (RMSPS). The CSPS is the 3rd largest UK occupational pension scheme with approximately 1.6 million members and 300+ employers whilst the RMSPS is currently the 6th largest public sector pension scheme, with approximately 365,000 members. The Future Services Programme was established to run the procurement and transition of services to the new transformed contracts.
Lumera were asked to provide the programme director for this high-profile programme. A key component of the role was to author, socialise and secure approval of the OBC (Outline Business Case) pre-procurement, and FBC (Full Business Case) post procurement for both of these contracts from senior governance bodies across government.
Developing a case for major scheme transformation
These procurements were not just a ‘like for like’ replacement for the current contract, they sought to secure a fundamental change in the services provision whilst also harnessing emerging technologies, such as AI. To secure commitment to, and achieve the authority’s visions of transforming the CSPS in to the best managed and administered UK public service pension scheme, whilst also providing a highly efficient, effective and Value for Money service for the RMSPS, the programme had to secure commitment and support from the Cabinet Office senior executive team as well as ministers through the OBC and FBC process.
In preparation for the development of the OBC our team worked with subject matter experts across Cabinet Office to develop key supporting documentation, including:
- A should cost model and a future cost model.
- A delivery model assessment to evaluate insourced and outsource options.
- A procurement strategy to evaluate procurement route options.
- Costed risk and benefits profiles (in line with five case model requirements).
Conveying succinct messages for successful sign off
The Cabinet Office have implemented a streamlined version of the five case model which required their cases to be as short as possible whilst addressing the key aspects of the five case model. Our team were fundamental in ensuring the messages and content of the cases were succinct, direct and informative. During the development of the OBC and FBCs our team led the following activities to secure successful sign off:
- Authoring the five-case OBC and FBCs for both the CSPS and RMSPS contracts.
- Leading a critical friend review with IPA to address ministerial concerns on the procurement approach.
- Socialising the OBC and FBC with key stakeholders across government including Chief Minister to the Treasury, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office Chief Finance Officer, Cabinet Office Commercial Director and the Cabinet Office Director of Digital.
- Presenting case to Cabinet Office Approvals Board.
All OBCs and FBCs were successfully approved by all stakeholders and the programme was commended for being one of the best run procurement programmes in Cabinet Office by the Permanent Secretary and Chief Financial Officer.
On the back of this the Future Service Business Cases was seen as an exemplar and the Lumera team have been approached by a number of other programmes across Cabinet Office for advice and guidance.
The results
"The knowledge skills and diligence demonstrated have put us in a good position to get our business case approved and avoid delays to the programme.”
Deputy Director, Government Business Services – Cabinet Office
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