Tenders are being sought by Scottish Borders Council to administer its pension fund which has a shortfall of almost £173million.
A Prior Information Notice has been issued for the provision of an IT system, with the contract valued up to £310,000 over five years.
An SBC spokesman said the new tender has no relation to the shortfall in the pension pot which has a total of 9,000 members as of March last year, including 4,230 contributing staff and 2,611 pensioners.
The spokesman added: “This Prior Information Notice is not about privatising administration, this will continue to be carried out in-house on a new or upgraded platform and has no relationship to the Accounting Pension Liability in the accounts.”
The latest annual report reveals the fund was worth £393million, but with obligations of over £565million.
The fund value rose by £20million over 2011/12, mainly through realised gains achieved on the sale of investments and higher levels of investment income. The performance of the fund on a three-year rolling average basis was reported to be 17.5 per cent, above the benchmark of 15.9 per cent.
During the year employers contributed £14.5million to the pension fund, with employees adding a further £4.6million.