Provision of Stewardship Advisory Services Primarily in Support of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

A Tender Notice
by NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL (AS ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY FOR NORFOLK PENSION FUND

Source
Find a Tender
Type
Contract (Services)
Duration
4 year
Value
___
Sector
BUSINESS
Published
16 Dec 2021
Delivery
To 29 Mar 2026 (est.)
Deadline
31 Jan 2022 14:00

Concepts

Location

United Kingdom:

Geochart for 8 buyers and 0 suppliers

Description

Norfolk County Council (as Administering Authority for Norfolk Pension Fund), on its own behalf and on behalf of City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (as Administering Authority of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund), East Sussex County Council (as Administering Authority of East Sussex Pension Fund), South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (as Administering Authority of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund), Wirral Council (as Administering Authority of the Merseyside Pension Fund), West Sussex County Council (as Administering Authority of West Sussex Pension Fund) and Wolverhampton City Council (as Administering Authority of the West Midlands Pension Fund) wish to let a multi-provider framework agreement for the provision of Stewardship Advisory Services primarily in support of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Lot Division

1 Voting Services

Voting services including but not limited to: Coverage and Policy • Ability to provide global voting coverage • Formalisation of a voting policy informed by client beliefs leading to an agreed voting template. Assisting in the formulation of agreed voting templates in line with client requirements • Providing support on voting and voting related engagement issues • Benchmarking fund manager voting intentions relative to the client's voting policy • Supporting clients with stewardship-related compliance e.g. UNPRI, UK Stewardship Code etc. Execution • Delivery of voting execution and voting related engagement in line with client policies • Advising on best practice in voting policy and execution • Ability to align voting with engagement activities • Ability to allow individual funds to vote differently to Pool Reporting • Identifying evolving voting themes which may impact upon client policies and reputation • Key analysis and reporting of trends in voting behaviour and activity and post-vote reporting • Supporting clients with internal and external communication with regards to stewardship policies • Ability to meet bespoke reporting requirements Additional information: There is no guarantee of business. Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 7 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 March 2033.

2 Engagement Services

Engagement Services including but not limited to: Coverage and Policy • Assisting the client to engage with investee entities across the portfolio as defined by the client • Identifying and prioritising fund engagement activities by issue and company • Identifying key engagement risks within client portfolios • Identifying the optimal engagement strategy in line with the client's investment portfolio • Identifying opportunities for clients to collaborate to secure more cost-efficient and effective engagement outcomes • Analysing the effectiveness of active ownership policies • Ability to provide a service tailored to different geographies and the ability to engage with companies worldwide decided on by ESG criteria • Identifying industry developments which may impact upon client policies and reputation Execution • Undertaking engagement activity on behalf of clients • Supporting the integration of engagement best practice into investment processes and decision-making • Supporting the client in their engagement with policymakers and regulators with regard to active ownership • Co-ordination of Collaborative initiative and Shareholder resolutions • Ability to align engagement activities with voting • Supporting the Scheme with defining objectives of engagements at manager or issuer level, and what plans there are for escalation should these fail Reporting • Provision of regular monitoring reports and analysis of engagement activities undertaken • Analysing the effectiveness of engagement activity • Supporting clients with stewardship-related compliance e.g. UNPRI, UK Stewardship Code etc. • Supporting clients with internal and external communication with regards to engagement policies • Ability to meet bespoke reporting requirements Training • Provision of ongoing training for clients in relation to engagement Additional information: There is no guarantee of business. Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 7 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 March 2033.

3 Voting and Engagement Services

Voting and Engagement services including, but not limited to: • Ability to provide full global voting coverage • Formalisation of a voting policy informed by client beliefs leading to an agreed voting template. Assisting in the formulation of agreed voting templates in line with client requirements • Delivery of voting execution and voting related engagement in line with client policies • Providing support on voting and voting related engagement issues • Identifying evolving voting themes which may impact upon client policies and reputation • Advising on best practice in voting policy and execution • Key analysis and reporting of trends in voting behaviour and activity and post-vote reporting • Benchmarking fund manager voting intentions relative to the client's voting policy • Supporting clients with stewardship-related compliance e.g. UNPRI, UK Stewardship Code etc. • Supporting clients with internal and external communication with regards to stewardship policies • Ability to meet bespoke reporting requirements • Ability to align voting and engagement activities • Ability to allow individual funds to vote differently to Pool • Assisting the client to engage with investee entities across the portfolio as defined by the client • Identifying and prioritising fund engagement activities by issue and company • Identifying key engagement risks within client portfolios • Identifying the optimal engagement strategy in line with the client's investment portfolio • Identifying opportunities for clients to collaborate to secure more cost-efficient and effective engagement outcomes • Undertaking engagement activity on behalf of clients. • Supporting the integration of engagement best practice into investment processes and decision-making • Supporting the client in their engagement with policymakers and regulators with regard to active ownership • Provision of ongoing training for clients in relation to engagement • Provision of regular monitoring reports and analysis of engagement activities undertaken • Analysing the effectiveness of engagement activity • Identifying key stewardship risks within client portfolios • Analysing the effectiveness of active ownership policies • Co-ordination of Collaborative initiative and Shareholder resolutions • Ability to provide a service tailored to different geographies and the ability to engage with companies worldwide decided on by ESG criteria • Identifying industry developments which may impact upon client policies and reputation • Supporting the Scheme with defining objectives of engagements at manager or at issuer level, and what plans there are for escalation should these fail. Additional information: There is no guarantee of business. Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 7 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 March 2033.

4 Stewardship Reporting and Projects

Discrete pieces of specialist, stewardship-related project work including, but not limited to: • Advice on preparing stewardship due diligence tools for specific asset classes e.g. real estate, forestry etc. • Advice on contentious issues related to Responsible Investment • Reviewing and helping develop stewardship policies and partnerships • Integrating responsible investment policies into investment decision-making • Supporting clients in their stewardship-related interactions with stakeholders • Supporting the analysis and reporting of stewardship-related data • Provision of research at sectoral, regional, asset class and/or investment level of environmental, social, governance and other stewardship matters in relation to current or prospective client investments • Advice and reporting including gap-analysis in line with relevant regulatory standards and recognised external frameworks e.g. UNPRI, TCFD, UK Stewardship code, Paris Alignment, SDG alignment • Analysing the effectiveness of active ownership policies and engagement activity • Identifying industry developments which may impact upon client policies and reputation • Supporting the Scheme with defining engagement beliefs and priorities • Supporting the integration of stewardship best practice into investment processes and decision-making (in respect of both internal and external management) Additional information: There is no guarantee of business. Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 7 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 March 2033.

CPV Codes

  • 66520000 - Pension services

Indicators

  • Restrictions apply to the lot award allocation.
  • This is a one-off contract (no recurrence)
  • Renewals are not available.

Other Information

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Reference

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