BearingPoint grabs N.C. retirement system deal

BearingPoint Inc. has won an 11-year, $19 million contract from North Carolina to provide a new retirement administration system, the company announced today.

The McLean, Va., company will build a Web-based retirement administration system as part of the Treasurer Department's Integrated Retirement System Project that will integrate six mainframe systems into a single platform.

The Web-based system will be designed to allow users to access to information and share it more easily, automate routine tasks, reduce response times, increase the accuracy and reliability of information, and improve customer satisfaction.

BearingPoint's pension administration solution, which is powered by Microsoft, combines the advantages of a commercial off-the-shelf solution with the flexibility and targeted functionality of customization.

Once completed, the project is expected to increase the department's efficiency, cost-effectiveness and customer service levels, the company said.

The completed system will allow retirees to go online to determine benefit estimates and view account histories as well as view pension payment history information and update their deduction and tax withholdings.

It also will enable employers to submit monthly payrolls containing salary and contribution information and automatically calculate and verify amounts.

The North Carolina Retirement Systems provide retirement savings and income to the state's nearly 700,000 working and retired public employees. It is the ninth largest public pension plan in the country with assets of about $60 billion.