UK - Bradford City Council has appointed Hewitt Associates as the new actuarial services provider to the West Yorkshire Pension Fund.

The pension fund had previously employed Mercer for actuarial services, but following a re-tendering process Hewitt was awarded the five-year contract, valued at a total of £3.5m (€3.9m).

Bradford tendered the role in December, searching for a "suitably experienced and qualified provider to supply actuarial services to the WYPF", and awarded the contract based on performance against certain criteria.

Price accounted for 50% of the weighting, although expertise, speed of response, and use of e-communication were also important factors, alongside communication and commitment to improvement.

The contract will run from April 2009 for an initial period of five years, with the option of a three-year extension, and will cover the next two triennial valuations of the fund scheduled for 2010 and 2013. 

Figures from the pension fund's last annual report for 2008 showed at the last actuarial valuation in March 2007 the scheme's funding level had improved to 90%, and at 31 March 2008 the WYPF had a value of £7.27bn.

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