In 2019, Nextcon Finland Oy was chosen by the Farmers’ Pension Board as its partner for consulting on the tendering of operational services. Nextcon’s experts have assisted in the development of the tender and service packages for Mela’s ICT user services tender, the tender process and the transition project.
MELA is a pension institution for farmers and grant holders, offering farmers, reindeer herders, fishermen, forest owners and grant holders in science and art a wide range of pension and social security cover for different situations in life.
“The most important thing is to ensure the supplier’s ability to deliver a competitive service package that meets the requirements” – Petri Ohtamaa, Managing Director, Nextcon Finland Oy
The cooperation started in the summer of 2019, starting with a mapping of the company’s current situation and preparations for the RFI (Request For Information) phase and market mapping.
– For a project of this scale, the requirements specifications and supplier selection criteria need to be very precise. A lot of material was put together for the tender and the compilation required careful background work,” says Ohtamaa.
Marianna Aho, production manager at the Farmers’ Pension Fund, says that remembering and putting together all the details alone would have been extremely difficult, and there would have been no time for the normal daily routine.
– Especially when it came to putting together the call for tenders, Petri kept the ball rolling. Also during the contract negotiation phase, it was ensured that the important issues for Mela were agreed, providing the necessary background and comparative information to support Mela’s decision.
– Marianna Aho, Production Manager, Farmers’ Pension Fund
A competitive negotiated procedure was chosen as the tender procedure. Ohtamaa explains that the main advantage of the negotiated procedure is that the technical solutions are reviewed and plans are refined together with the selected suppliers.
– Once the potential suppliers were selected, they were consulted on their offer and current solutions, availability and different implementation options. The common goal of all of them is, of course, to deliver a solution that best meets the client’s objectives.
According to Aho, Nextcon’s expertise has been useful and all requirements, boundary conditions and objectives were translated into measurable and comparable options.
– It is important to identify and define the essential requirements on the basis of which a procurement decision is made. Petr’s experience was a great help in this.
High-quality groundwork is the basis for a successful purchase and should be well planned.
– There are always big risks in tendering, so we make sure things are done properly. The most important thing is to make sure that the supplier is able to deliver the service package to be tendered,” Ohtamaa says.
As a result of the tender process, the service provider changed and in May 2021 the transition project started, with Petri supporting Marianna.
– Petri took care of the progress of the project for Mela, which allowed me to focus more on the technical solutions. Also in transit, Petri made sure that all the details were remembered so that there were no surprises. Petri’s main idea for the project has been good preparation and “failing on time”, which means, for example, careful selection and priming of test migrations. So far, we have managed to stay on schedule and there have been no major surprises or setbacks,” Marianna says.
The schedule for the ICT user services tender was delayed from the original due to the rescheduling of the ongoing system upgrade at Mela. The tendering process started in earnest in spring 2020.
The quieter moment in the ICT user services tender coincided with Mela’s telecommunications services tender, where Mela again relied on the expertise of Nextcon’s experts. The tender for telecommunications services was carried out through Hansel’s Dynamic Procurement System (DPS) as a streamlined tender.
Nextcon has a long and extensive experience in common systems in the occupational pension insurance sector and related challenging projects and initiatives. The tendering projects carried out by Mela over the last three years, as well as the Transition of Access Services project, have been very interesting challenges.
– We are very pleased to have been able to support Mela in such an important project. The tasks have been interesting and it has been a pleasure to work with Mela’s highly competent team,” adds Ohtamaa.
Marianna says that it has been easy to work with Petri, even though the corona time has of course prevented face-to-face work.
– We have always been confident that things will be done as agreed.
Nextcon employs dozens of top people in project management, quality assurance and artificial intelligence . Decades of experience combined with the latest technological and methodological know-how allow us to be a reliable partner in demanding environments.
Leave us a contact request and let’s start planning a more agile future together.
