A total of 1077 companies have been certified by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to bid for Federal Government contracts as at April 9, after they provided evidence of compliance with provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014.
This represents a huge improvement as only 2,173 employers were issued the certificate in 2014.
The compliance certificates are issued only to organisations seeking to bid for Federal Government contracts, in compliance with Section 16 (6) (d) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, which states that any supplier, contractor or consultant bidding or soliciting contract or business from any Federal Government MDAs must fulfill all its obligations with respect to pensions.
Compliance with the Pension Act, at minimum, include ensuring that all employees open Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) with the Pension Fund Administrator of their choice; remitting both employer and employee pension contributions to the appropriate Pension Fund Custodian not later than seven days from the date of payment of salaries.
Companies requesting for the compliance certificate are equally to provide evidence of transfer of all pension assets of any employee retirement benefit scheme prior to the commencement of the Pension Act to licensed operators, as well as evidence of valid group life insurance policy for employees.
In accordance with this requirement that all organisations wishing to bid for any contract with the Federal Government MDAs must provide evidence of implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme, PenCom has constantly been updating the list of organisations that have been issued compliance certificates.
The commission has also created a space on its website where the Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) can easily search for the names of companies to determine their status on compliance with the Pension Act before such organisations can be considered for government contracts.
PenCom explained that the list has to be publicised to serve as a guide to all Federal Government MDAs and for information of the general public.
Source : Independent
