Income Payments, Book Debts and Recovery Service.

The Insolvency Service currently has a contract for Income Payments, Book Debts and Recovery Service which provides for the collection of income payment agreements/income payment orders (IPA/Os) from bankrupts and for the recovery of book debts, antecedent transactions, payment protection insurance compensation refunds and recoveries from company directors.

The current contract expires in September 2013 and this service needs to be re-tendered to enable minimum interruption to the collection services provided to the Official Receiver.

IPO/A and Book Debt collections represent approximately 95 % of all case instructions, and Antecedent Transaction collections, represent 5 %, (based on 2012 data).

Antecedent Transaction collections require the economic operator to have specific experience in the Insolvency Acts, 1986 and 2000, as amended by the Enterprise Act, 2005, Company Director Disqualification Act, 1986, Companies Acts, 1985 and 2006, and Employment Rights Act, 1996, and should therefore be qualified Legal Practitioners and members of the Law Society.

IPO/A and Book Debt collections do not require the economic operator to have specific professional legal standing, and therefore, technical capacity and relevant experience in debt collection would apply.

It is the intention of the Insolvency Service to let one service contract for the IPBDR Service, and therefore, economic operators should ensure their bid is capable of both Antecedent Transactions, as well as IPO/A and Book Debt collections, which can take the form of a single economic operator bid, or a consortia bid, with a prime contractor and sub contractor agreements.