The Government is expected to sign a 15-year contract worth €150m with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) this week, to provide administration services for the new pension auto-enrolment (AE) system.
The new scheme, which is to be known as the My Future Fund, is set to launch in September of next year.
The Minister for Social Protection has also confirmed that the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA), which will oversee the implementation of the system, will be established on March 31.
"Setting a start date a year from now gives all stakeholders involved including employees, their employers, payroll developers and providers, time to make the necessary preparations and adjustments to their systems and their processes to facilitate the implementation of AE and to budget accordingly," Heather Humphreys said.
The Government has also confirmed that the procurement of investment managers, who will manage the money collected under the AE scheme, will start shortly.
Up to four will be contracted by NAERSA to carry out this work and they will offer three strategies, high, medium and low risk.
Under the scheme around 800,000 workers who are not already members of a pension will be automatically enrolled into one next year.
The aim of auto-enrolment is to boost the numbers of people with a pension and the level of their retirement savings.
Currently, Ireland is the only country in the OECD without such a system.
"My Future Fund, the new name for auto-enrolment, will help hundreds of thousands of hard-working people save for their futures with the support of employers and the State," the minister said.
"By ensuring people have more money when they retire, we are investing in the future of Ireland and in the people living and working here."
The minister has signed the commencement order which should result in the first enrolments under the My Future Fund system beginning on September 30 next year.
The establishment of NAERSA on March 31 will give its board and executive management time to implement the various agreements and systems ahead of that date.
Recruitment of personnel to both the board and staff will begin right away.
Indian based TCS, which is part of the large multinational Tata Group, currently employs 1,400 people in its offices in Letterkenny.
It has experience of administering similar schemes in other countries, including the UK.
The Department of Social Protection is also planning a major communications campaign over the coming months to inform people about the new system.
Some stakeholders in the pension and business communities have questioned how realistic the timetable for implementation of the new system is, given the amount of work that will have to be done.
