Current providers Wylie & Bisset and Insolvency Support Services (ISS) have been awarded the contract following a public procurement exercise, which saw KPMG dropped. The new contract will start on 1 July 2017.  

AiB will be able to review and extend the contract after the first two years, by one-year terms, which should reduce overall costs from the current £13m annual bill to £11.5m. This could see savings of £1.5m over the contract term as the number of outsourced providers is cut from the current three, which are Wylie & Bisset, ISS and KPMG.

An average 2,500 cases a year are contracted out to third party providers where The Accountant in Bankruptcy has been appointed trustee. 

Accountant in Bankruptcy chief executive Dr Richard Dennis said: ‘This is the third contract for insolvency services to be awarded by AiB and, as a result of the competitive nature of the procurement process, we have been able to secure improved fee rates and consequently better value for taxpayers.

‘Both suppliers will work across the three regions of Scotland outlined in the tender documents. By appointing two companies to handle insolvency services across the whole of Scotland on our behalf, we will benefit from economies of scale and deliver significant cost savings.’

The exercise has been subject to public sector procurement legislation.

AiB is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government with responsibility for administering the process of personal bankruptcy, administering the Debt Arrangement Scheme and recording corporate insolvencies in Scotland. http://www.aib.gov.uk/