Planning firms in battle for tender

The Victorian Government’s bid to offer financial planning advice to public sector retirees has been inundated with more than 80 firms battling for part of the tender.

In December last year, the Victorian Government offered a tender to financial planning groups to provide fee for service advice for more than 100,000 public sector retirees.

The one-off offer which closed last week will involve 54,000 pensioners and 50,000 deferred beneficiaries as part of a government initiative named the Beneficiary Choice Program.

Assisting in the tendering process is Arthur Andersen Personal Financial Management. Arthur Andersen financial planning partner Graham Reeve says the 80 firms range from small boutique groups to large firms that operate on national, state and local levels.

"There has been a big range of interest. Some are very impressive and then there have been some who have totally missed the whole concept of the tender," he says.

"The big fear of financial planning groups was that only big firms would be appointed but that will not be the case."

Reeve says the influx of application means Arthur Andersen is spending 12 hour days working on assessing the tenders and examining each group's individual quality and their price requirements.

"We are hoping that by the end of this week we'll have a shortlist to present to the Victorian Government," he says.

Reeve says after a final recommendation is given, the government will write contracts and appoint those firms which have been successful.

"The next role for us is to train and educate the successful tenders. During the next five months or so there will be a high level of activity in this program," he says.

Reeve says those of the 104,000 beneficiaries eligible who request the advice of the appointed firms will receive offers in February, with final offers made in April.