DETI Procurement of Agents for the Official Receiver.

Descriptions

The Official Receiver (OR) is a civil servant in the Insolvency Service within DETI and is also an officer of the Court in his roles of Trustee in Bankruptcy and Liquidator in limited companies which have been wound up by the Court.(ii) upon the making of a bankruptcy order or winding-up order the OR immediately becomes responsible for ascertaining and safeguarding the assets in the insolvent estates. In order to fulfil this responsibility he requires the services of a number of Agents who can be called upon at short notice to carry out immediate visits to trading premises and to carry out tasks which include closing down businesses, making an inventory of the assets, uplifting and securing assets and providing valuations of assets;(iii) for several years the OR has been using Agents to carry out this work and currently has a list of 6 Agents throughout the province whom he can call upon when required. The Agents had been sourced by the OR without going through a competitive tendering. Process. This was on the basis that in his capacity of Trustee/Liquidator of insolvent estates the OR paid Agents' fees out of Trust funds in the estate accounts and therefore this expense was not being paid from public funds. In their September 2012 report following an inspection of the OR Unit, Internal Audit recommended that Insolvency Service management liaise with Central Procurement Directorate in DFP and obtain advice regarding the procurement of services in the administration of insolvency cases where costs are paid from the estate. They considered that competitive tendering would help to ensure greater value for money for creditors whilst also providing equality of opportunity for suppliers in the administration of insolvency cases.The Insolvency Service through Central Procurement Directorate is seeking tendered proposals from suitably qualified and experienced Agents to carry out this work on an initial one year contract with options to extend for one plus one years. There are 3 separate Lots to cover 3 regions across Northern Ireland.