Sponsor Bank Service

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wish to give notice of planned procurement opportunity in relation to two linked but separate future procurements for DWP payment contingency services (together referred to in this notice as the “Payment Contingency Services (“PCS”)).

The intention of the PCS is to ensure DWP has robust contingencies in place to make benefit and pension entitlement payments to its customers on the dates they are due. The PCS are invoked only in exceptional circumstances where there is a delay in DWP releasing Bacs payment file(s).

The DWP intends for the relevant services to be provided under two separate, interdependent contracts (both of which are required to allow for invocation of PCS) as follows:

Short Term Payment Contingency (“STPC”) - Lot 1: This service reformats Bacs payments files into Faster Payment files for onward submission into the Faster Payment infrastructure

Sponsor Bank (“SB”) – Lot 2: This service is required for the settlement of funds with the Bank of England.

Please note that as these are separate procurements, different procurement processes and/or commercial approach may apply to each procurement. In addition, each procurement may be awarded, delayed, or withdrawn independently of the other.

This notice relates specifically to the SB procurement. A separate UK3 Planned Procurement Notice has been issued for the STPC procurement, which can be found on Find a Tender Service.

Please note that:

• Further information and relevant guidance will be provided in or with the UK4 Tender Notice, published on Find a Tender Service website.
• UK 4 Notice and associated procurement documents provided with that notice will outline how and when to express your interest to participate in the procurement process.
• All procurement activities will be managed via DWP online portal (Atamis).
• Procurement related documentation will be issued via Atamis. Full guidance on registration and system navigation will be provided in or with the UK4 Notice.
• It is mandatory for any interested suppliers to register on the new Central Digital Platform (CDP) which is part of the enhanced Find a Tender Service in order to participate in any future procurements. Details of how to register will be included in or with the UK4 Notice.
• The DWP will not be liable for any expenditure, work, or effort incurred by a provider in acting based on this notice.
• The information provided in this notice is for indicative purposes only. The DWP reserves its rights to amend any of the information included in the notice.
• DWP reserves the right to add or remove stages throughout the procurement process or to reduce the tendering period in future (in accordance with the PA 23). The DWP also reserves the right to decide not to proceed with this procurement.