The Swedish Fund Selection Agency publishes clarifications in response to comments received on the draft examples of parts of the tender documents

The office of the Swedish Fund Selection Agency has reviewed comments on the draft examples of parts of the tender documents received between February 24th and March 17th 2023. The comments are important for the Swedish Fund Selection Agency's design of the tender documents that will be used in the procurement of funds for the Swedish premium pension fund platform. In response to the comments received, the Swedish Fund Selection Agency is publishing clarifications and answers to the questions that can be communicated before notice is made for the first procurement. All comments and questions received have been taken into account.

Procurement of funds within the Swedish social insurance system

The Swedish Fund Selection Agency is responsible for procuring funds for the Swedish premium pension fund platform, which is part of the Swedish social insurance system. Therefore, special requirements must be set in the procurements to protect the interests of the pension savers. The premium pension fund platform should provide funds of high quality, with the aim to create a safer and higher pension for the pension savers. To enable this, international best practice for procurement of funds among else will guide the Swedish Fund Selection Agency. The scope of the tender documents is in line with established industry standards.

Legal requirements

To procure funds within the framework of the Swedish social insurance system, the Swedish parliament has enacted two new laws, Act (2022:759) on the Swedish Fund Selection Agency and Act (2022:760) on the procurement of funds for the premium pension fund platform. The activities of the Swedish Fund Selection Agency are also regulated by Chapter 64 of the Social Insurance Code. Since the mandatory pension savings within the premium pension system shall contribute to securing the future livelihood of pensioners and thus reduce the financial risk for the state, the Swedish Fund Selection Agency sets higher requirements on fund managers and funds in the procurements than the requirements set under other regulations. In the procurements, the Swedish Fund Selection Agency must treat fund managers in an equal and non-discriminatory manner and observe the principles of transparency, proportionality and mutual recognition.

The Swedish Fund Selection Agency has evaluated the comments received on the draft examples of the tender documents , including comments related to the processing of personal data. In its further work on the design of the documents, the Swedish Fund Selection Agency has taken these comments into account.

Design of the tender documents

The tender documents are intended to normally consist of a total of five documents: Procurement guidelines, Exclusion grounds and mandatory requirements, Request for proposal (RFP), Fund specification and a Fund agreement. Drafts examples of parts of the first four documents were part of the market dialogue conducted by the Swedish Fund Selection Agency in February and March 2023. However, which exact documents the tender documents will ultimately consist of can differ from procurement to procurement as the tender documents has to be adapted to each individual procurement.

The comments received from the industry have shown the need to clarify the content of the tender documents . For example, when notice is made for the first procurement, the tender documents will include an updated list of definitions and, where appropriate, reference to international standards. The questions in the tender documents will be clear and fully explained. How each award criterion will be evaluated will be clarified in the tender documents .

The number and category of funds to be procured in a particular procurement, the requirements applicable to the category, the current assets under management under the category and possible requirements of an understanding of how corporate governance is conducted in the markets covered by the procurement will be clearly stated in the tender documents for each individual procurement.

Fees

The fee discount model that previously existed for the funds on the premium pension fund platform will be removed, and replaced with procured fees. The Swedish Fund Selection Agency has considered the comments regarding the possibility of adjusting the fee. The purpose of such a procedure is to safeguard the interests of savers. The process will be described in the tender documents and will follow the principles of Union law on equal treatment and more.

Information provided by the fund manager in the tender

The Swedish Fund Selection Agency’s will review and evaluate the tenders received. The interviews aim to validate the information submitted in the tenders and cannot lead to higher scores on the award criteria.

In accordance with the Swedish principle of public access to official documents, documents received by an authority are public documents and may therefore be disclosed in their entirety if someone requests access to them. However, information protected by secrecy is not disclosed. It is therefore important that the fund manager indicates and motivates which information, if any, it considers should be covered by confidentiality when submitting the tender.

All comments and questions received have been considered. Answers to the questions that can be communicated before notice is made for the first procurement are published here.

The Swedish Fund Selection Agency does not answer questions to actors individually. The information is made available to the industry on the Agency’s website.