TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF OCTOBER 20, 2016
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Issue purchase order and enter into an agreement for Contract 16-RFP-19 Deferred Compensation and Investment Consulting Services with Segal Advisors, Inc. d/b/a Segal Rogerscasey, in an amount not to exceed $154,000.00, Account 101-25000-612430, Requisition 1428002 (As Revised)
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to issue a purchase order and enter into an agreement with Segal Advisors, Inc. d/b/a Segal Rogerscasey (Segal Rogerscasey) to provide deferred compensation investment consulting and administrator selection services for the period January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019. These services will initially be paid by the District but will be reimbursed out of the Deferred Compensation Plan’s Administrative Allowance account which is administered by Prudential Retirement, the Deferred Compensation Plan recordkeeper.
On June 22, 2016, Request for Proposal 16-RFP-19, Deferred Compensation Investment Consulting Services was publicly advertised. Forty (40) firms were notified and twenty-four (24) requested proposal documents. On July 22, 2016, the District received nine (9) responsive proposals from the following vendors: Cammack Larhette Advisors, LLC; Fiduciary First; J.H. Elwood & Associates, Inc.; Marquette Associates, Inc.; Meketa Investment Group, Inc.; Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc.; NFP Retirement; Retirement Plan Advisors, LLC; and Segal Rogerscasey.
The proposals were evaluated by staff from the Human Resources Department and the Procurement and Materials Management Department. The criteria for these evaluations were outlined in Request for Proposal 16-RFP-19 and included: understanding of the scope of work, approach to the work, technical competence, financial stability, compliance with insurance requirements, submission of licenses/permits and cost.
Following the preliminary evaluation of proposals, excluding cost, seven (7) proposers were deemed to be finalists and were invited to interviews conducted August 29, 2016 and August 30, 2016 by the Deferred Compensation Committee consisting of the Chairman of Finance, the Treasurer and the Acting Director of Human Resources. Two of the finalists, Fiduciary First and Retirement Plan Advisors, LLC, declined the invitation to participate in the finalist interviews. On September 9, 2016, a solicitation was sent to each of the five finalists that participated in the interviews requesting an unqualified “best and final” offer. The “best and final” offers were returned to the Director of Procurement and Materials Management on September 16, 2016.
Based on the evaluation of proposals and interviews, it is recommended that a purchase order be awarded to Segal Rogerscasey (Segal). Segal received the highest technical score among the proposers and was competitively priced. It has significant experience in the public sector market, consulting for 22 public sector organizations including the City of Chicago and Cook County. It has over $400 billion in plan assets under advisement with $33 billion of those assets belonging to public sector plans. Segal is the current investment advisor for the District’s deferred compensation plan and for the OPEB Trust. It has assisted the District with maintenance of its investment policy and provides on-going monitoring of fund performance for all investment options. Segal also has extensive experience conducting vendor searches for plan administrator services. It has staff dedicated to assisting clients in the defined contribution vendor search process. It recently assisted the District in its vendor search and helped in the transition of the plan to its new plan administrator, Prudential Retirement. Segal was instrumental in helping the District negotiate lower fees for its plan participants and actively monitors these fees throughout the year.
The Affirmative Action Section reviewed the request for proposal and concluded that Appendix A would not be applicable since the proposed services are dependent on the expertise of the vendor and cannot be subcontracted.
In view of the foregoing, it is requested that the Director of Procurement and Materials Management be authorized to award a contract to Segal Rogerscasey in the amount of $154,000.00. As a note, Segal Rogerscasey will be changing the name of its firm to Segal Marco Advisors, Inc. effective January 1, 2017.
Funds are being requested in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in Account 101-25000-612430 and are contingent on the Board of Commissioners’ approval of the District’s budget for those years. The estimated expenditures are $38,000.00 in 2017, $38,000.00 in 2018 and $78,000.00 in 2019.
Recommended, Beverly K. Sanders, Director of Human Resources
Recommended, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Barbara J. McGowan, Chairman Committee on Procurement
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for October 20, 2016