Statement_of_Work.pdf

Statement of Work

Form 5500 Research Subscription and Data Analysis

A. Background

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is committed to educating and assisting Americans covered by private retirement plans, health plans, and other welfare benefit plans; as well as plan sponsors and members of the employee benefits community. EBSA balances proactive enforcement with compliance assistance and works diligently to provide quality assistance to plan participants and beneficiaries. The Form

5500 Series was developed to allow employee benefit plans a uniform set of documents to submit to satisfy annual reporting requirements under Title I and Title IV of ERISA and under the Internal Revenue Code. The Form 5500 Series is intended to assure that employee benefit plans are operated and managed in accordance with certain prescribed standards and that participants and beneficiaries, as well as regulators, are provided or have access to sufficient information to protect the rights and benefits of participants and beneficiaries under employee benefit plans.

B. Purpose

EBSA is seeking a contract to support various Form 5500 research, compliance assistance and enforcement tasks. The contractor shall provide EBSA staff, at the start of the period of performance, with a subscription to a database which contains edited Form 5500 data, mapped with SEC, FINRA, investment performance and state insurance data. The qualified contractor must already have the necessary data elements for the subscription in place at the start of the period of performance. The subscription shall be fully functional and available throughout the entirety of the contract (except during agreed upon maintenance and update periods), and also for the entirety of any option years if exercised by EBSA. Access to this subscription can be provided via direct database access or through a web application enabling EBSA staff to independently query data on employer sponsored benefit plans, financial advisors, other service providers, assets, geographical locations, and other general plan information.

C. Research Objectives

The following elements should be available as part of the subscription in the edited Form 5500 data, mapped with SEC, FINRA, and state insurance data:

The Form 5500 advisor name data must be edited to organize different sets of naming convention for the same company, into one specific advisor or company name.

SEC registered investment advisers from the SEC IARD database need to be matched to firms which are listed on Schedules C and A of the Form 5500.

With that map in place, firm data in the Form ADV and the disclosure reports for the individual representatives from the investment adviser search website shall be obtained.

Aggregate FINRA data on those same firms and individuals.

Information from state insurance departments for the same firms and individuals, in order to provide another useful source of disclosure information on the advisors.

One specific headquarter location for multi-location companies

Spread of the assets into various geographic locations (such as three digit zip code)

Specific indicators on Taft-Hartley plans

Audit level, trended fund data

The contractor is required to provide at least 40 labor hours of specialized analyst support to prepare various data queries on DC retirement plan data according to the needs of EBSA during the base period and in each option year, if exercised by the Government. These analyses could include matching edited Form 5500 data with other data sets or non-matched variables of existing data structures.

D. Required Data Elements

(Required as Part of Subscription at Beginning of Period of Performance)

EBSA requires both the data outlined below and other pertinent information to be available to

EBSA at the start of the contract. This subscription shall be fully functional and available throughout the entirety of the base contract period, and also for the entirety of any option years if exercised by EBSA. The data structure needed and expected access of data for this contract is detailed below:

1. Plan Data shall contain no less than the following:

a. Plan Data containing Plan name, Plan Assets, Active Participants, Number of Investment

Options, Advisor information, and Region.

b. Other Plan Data relating to Fund Balance, Fund Type, Number of Investment Options, Advisor information, Industry information, Fund Allocation data, Ticker symbol data, and

Recordkeeper information.

2. Advisor/Consultant and Record-keeper Data shall contain no less than the following:

a. Distribution Data containing Total DC Distribution, Plan Count, Average Plan Size, Distribution by Plan Size (Assets/Participants), Geographic Breakdown (Plan Map), and

Industry Breakdown.

b. Fund Data containing Fund name, Manager Information, Asset Class, Plan Counts, and

Total Asset Data.

c. Linkages of investment advisors between the Form 5500 and the Form ADV

3. Asset Manager Data shall contain no less than the following:

a. Distribution Data Distribution Data containing Total DC Distribution, Contractor

Rankings and Awards, Top Funds data, Geographic Breakdown (Plan Map), Distribution by

Plan Size data, General Plan data, Menu Capture data, and Investment Vehicle data.

b. Funds Data containing Fund Name, Distribution amounts, Plan Counts, Total Assets, Average Number of Participants, Average Plan Assets, Menu Capture data, and Average Plan

Holding data.

c. Territory Map containing Color coded US map and Territory Breakdown by Salesperson.

4. Advisor Regulatory Filing Information shall contain no less than the following:

a. Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) and Broker-Dealers (BDs) Data containing

Primary Name, Alias Name, IARD/CRD Number, SEC File Number, Addresses, Phone

Numbers, Website Addresses, Assets Under Management, Fee Arrangements, Client Types, Affiliated Investment Adviser Representatives or Affiliated Registered Representatives, State

Registrations, Advisory Activities, Other Business Activities, Financial Industry Affiliations and Private Fund Reporting, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions, Custody information, Control Persons data, and Disclosure Information.

b. Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs) and Registered Representatives (RRs) Data containing Full Name, CRD Number, Address, Phone Number, Assets Under Management, Email Address, Current Firm Registration, Registration and Employment History, State

Registrations, Industry Exams Passed, Affiliation data, and Customer Disputes, Disciplinary and Regulatory Events data.

5. Fund Distribution Data shall contain no less than the following:

a. General Data containing Total DC Distribution (includes share of total fund assets in DC plans and category averages), Contractor Distribution Rankings and Awards data, Consultants and Advisors data, Recordkeeper Distribution data, Geographic Breakdown, Distribution By Plan Size, Industry Distribution data, Investment Vehicle Breakdown data

(such as value of assets held by investment vehicle type), Number of Plans, Average Plan

Size, Average Plan Holding, Asset Class information, Total Menu information, and Fees and

Revenue Sharing data.

b. Consultants and Advisors’ Name, Total Compensation, and Assets.

c. Recordkeepers’ Name, Total Assets, Distribution Shares, and Plan Count information.

6. Data Search Functionality shall contain no less than the following:

a. Funds Search Criteria by Distribution, Performance, Fees, Geography, and other

Pertinent Information.

b. Asset Managers Search Criteria by Distribution, Geography, and other Pertinent

Information.

c. Plans Search Criteria by Plan Ratings, Company information, Financial Data, Investment

Menu, Participant Data, and Service Provider Information.

d. Service Provider Search Criteria by Distribution, Investment menu, Service Provider

Information, and other Pertinent Information.

7. Miscelleneous EBSA specific needs:

a. One specific headquarter location for multi-location companies.

b. Spread of the assets into various specific geographic locations.

c. Specific indicators on Taft-Hartley plans.

d. EBSA regional indicators.

e. Quarterly data feeds including the majority of data elements available through web access.

The plan data should cover a significant portion of the ERISA plans filing Form 5500s, at least data on 30,000 to 40,000 Form 5500 filings employee benefit plans. Mapping to financial information through CRD numbers should be available for at least 9,000 entities.

E. Additional Data Elements

(Not required, but will be factored into the evaluation of the overall product)

1 This should be highlighted in the Technical Approach of the proposal.

1. Welfare Plan Information

a. Fees associated with health and welfare plans

b. Information on service providers (such as brokers and carriers) associated with welfare plans

c. Data on the number of participants, premiums and plan funding

2. Supplemental Financial Data

a. Integrating data from outside financial datasets (such as Preqin, Morningstar, Lipper, etc) in order to enhance reporting on assets and holdings listed in Form 5500 filings.

b. Information on alternative assets

c. Data on Master Trusts

F. Tasks

EBSA seeks a subscription contract that will consist of a one (1) year base period with three one

(1) year option periods to be exercised at the option of the Government; the contract will entail multiple tasks. The contractor shall provide a subscription containing the specified data elements and the necessary maintenance during the entirety of this contract, and training and analysis tasks. The contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, services, facilities, and all other things necessary to aid EBSA in performing tasks critical to the our mission. The following sections describe the tasks and associated deliverables.

Task 1 Initial Project Meeting

Within two weeks of the start of the period of performance, the contractor shall meet, either in person or by telephone, with the COR, the OPR contact, and any other relevant staff to clarify the project objectives, scope of work, deliverables, requirements, and any questions the contractor may have regarding the project. The contractor shall be prepared to discuss any issues pertinent to this project. During the meeting, communication procedures will be outlined as agreed upon by both parties. OPR will present all initial specific analyst queries, analysis of data, and/or enhancements to the subscription and web applications as well as any planned future analysis to the extent possible at the initial project meeting. Within two (2) weeks following the initial meeting the contractor shall submit a memorandum summarizing the meeting and any conclusions or decisions that resulted.

Deliverables:

1.1 Briefing: Initial Project Meeting, due 2 weeks after the start of the period of performance.

1.2 Memorandum: Summary of Initial Project Meeting, due 2 week after meeting.

Task 2 Provide EBSA users with subscription access

The contractor shall provide EBSA staff with subscription access either directly to a given database or through a web application at the beginning of the period of performance. This will enable EBSA staff to independently query data on plans, financial advisors, assets, geographical locations, and other general plan information.

Task 2.1 Five “Super-Users”

A minimum of 5 authorized “super-users” from EBSA will have direct contact with the contractor in addition to access to the subscription. The contractor shall allow the 5 authorized users to have direct contact to designated contractor staff for questions and answers. These 5 authorized users, for all purposes, may be thought of as “super-users.” These 5 EBSA “super-users” will be responsible for compiling all non-technical support questions relating to the subscription to the contractor and will serve as facilitators between all EBSA standard users and the contractor. However, in rare cases when the non-technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated support staff.

Task 2.2 35 Standard Users

An additional 35 users will have direct access to the subscription or web application; however, these users may not contact the contractor directly. When questions relating to the contractor subscription arise (except technical support questions), the standard users will direct their questions to the “super-users”. However, in rare cases when the non-technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated support staff.

Task 2.3 Training

The contractor shall provide initial training and demonstration of the subscription web application to both “super-users” and standard users of the subscription, and also semiannual training thereafter. Due to the number of the participants, there may need to be 2 separate training events. The training may be in-person or web-based. Follow-up questions (except those related to technical support) after the training will be directed to the “super-users”, who will communicate with the contractor. However, in rare cases when the non-technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated support staff.

Task 2.4 Technical Support

For technical support, the contractor shall provide EBSA technical assistance with the initiation and use of the subscription, the identification of problems, and the reporting of issues during a regular set of at least eight business hours each work day Monday through Friday, excluding

Federal holidays. The exact support hours will be agreed upon during the initial project meeting

(e.g. Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern or Pacific Time). The contractor shall provide defect tracking, software diagnosis, and software problem analysis and resolution over the telephone and via e-mail. The 35 standard users shall be permitted to send technical support issues directly to the designated technical support staff. However, the 35 standard users will send non-technical support issues through the “super-users”. But in rare cases when the non-technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated technical support staff regarding a non-technical support issue.

Task 2.5 Updates to the Subscription

If the Contractor makes updates or additions to the underlying data upon which the subscription is based, then the Contractor shall also make the same updates and additions to the subscription.

For example, if the Contractor were to incorporate newly filed Form 5500 data and include additional linking/matching data between service providers, then the Contractor shall also make the newly filed Form 5500 data and the additional linking/matching data between service providers available via the subscription.

2.1 Five “Super-Users” will be given access to both the subscription and designated contactor staff, due at the beginning of the period of performance.

2.2 An additional 35 Standard Users will be given access to the subscription, due at the beginning of the period of performance.

2.3 Training, due within six (6) weeks of the beginning of the period of performance and semiannually thereafter.

2.4 Access to email and telephone technical support, due at the beginning of the period of performance.

2.5 Updates to the Subscription, due when updates are made to underlying data.

Task 3 Provide Specific Custom Analyses

The contractor shall provide at least 40 hours of analyst support to run various data queries using the edited Form 5500 data and related other data. These analyses could include matching the edited Form 5500 data with other data sets or non-matched variables of existing data structures

(e.g. Form ADV) or could include specialized regional distributions of service providers. Neither the time spent maintaining the subscription nor the time spend providing technical support to

EBSA for the web application or direct database access shall be counted against these 40 hours of analyst support.

If EBSA determines that the results are not satisfactory or other variables are needed, the contractor shall modify the output to accommodate EBSA’s needs.

EBSA shall contact the contractor for specific custom queries that are not supported in the subscription or are otherwise not feasible for EBSA staff to create. These custom queries will be due as soon as reasonable after the request depending on data availability and complexity.

3.1 Memorandum - Results of custom analyses: due, as needed (TBD).

3.2 Memorandum - Response to ad-hoc data requests: due, as needed (TBD).

Task 4 Monthly Analyst Time Reports and Ongoing Communication

The contractor will prepare brief monthly reports to be conveyed to the COR via e-mail, documenting the analyst support labor hours used during the month and the specific request or query accomplished using that time. The focus of the reports is on the use of the hours of analyst support discussed in Task 3. These monthly reports will detail the specific work done to accomplish tasks, problems encountered, work anticipated in the coming month (if known), the number of labor hours expended each month, and any budgetary or substantive issues requiring the COR’s action. The labor hour data in the monthly progress reports will include analyst support labor hours used during the reporting period and to date, and the proportion of analyst support labor hours expended in relation to analyst support hour totals.

In addition to these written monthly reports, the contractor is expected to communicate informally, by phone and e-mail, with the COR as needed.

4.1 Monthly Progress Reports: due, monthly.

G. Option Years

The tasks for each option year are identical to those for the base year.

H. Staff and Support

The contractor shall designate persons as key personnel and essential for the successful completion of all work assigned under this contract. The contractor shall also assign at least one senior level contact as the Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) responsible for coordinating this project with all other contractor staff. Discussions and written correspondence between EBSA staff and this PD/PI will be the primary means of communicating requests for custom queries and use of contractor analyst hours.

Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) – The PD/PI must have a minimum of five (5) years’ experience with financial retirement data and/or issues.

EBSA anticipates that the successful completion of this project will require the services of people who will provide, individually or in combination, the following expertise and specialties.

1. Summarizing and analyzing Form 5500 data on defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans and welfare plans collected by the Department of Labor. Analysis of the data available on

Schedules (and attachments to) A, C, D, H, I of the Form 5500, including on investments and plan provisions.

2. Summarizing and analyzing Form 5500 data on Master Trusts, including its investments.

3. ERISA laws and regulations relating to Form 5500 reporting.

4. Reporting requirements of investment advisers and other service providers to employee benefit plans.

5. Experience in analysis of the SEC IARD database, FINRA data and other data related to investment advisers and investment managers. Experience in matching these databases to Form

5500 data.

6. Analysis of data on direct and indirect fees, revenue sharing and performance associated with investments used by retirement plans. Analysis of data on direct and indirect fees, range of fees and premiums reported by welfare plans.

7. Integrating data from outside financial datasets (such as Preqin, Morningstar, Lipper, etc) in order to enhance reporting on assets and holdings listed in Form 5500 filings.

8. Experience in database administration, and providing database access to external customers either directly or via a web interface, including trainings and other technical support, describing how to use their product.

Please note that a person may embody multiple skills.

Key Personnel (PD/PI) may not be removed or replaced without the written consent of the

Government. The Contractor shall ensure that all employees assigned to Key Personnel positions are retained in those positions for at least 180 days following Government approval of their resumes unless the person leaves the Contractor’s employment or is incapacitated. Any replacement candidate must have the same or better qualifications as the person released.

Resumes of replacement Key Personnel must be provided and the Government must approve the replacement before that person starts work. Prior to directing any of the Key Personnel to other projects, the Contractor shall provide advance written notification of at least 14 calendar days to the COR and submit justification (including proposed substitutions) in sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the impact on the project. No change shall be made by the Contractor without the written consent of the COR, and ratified by the Contracting Officer.

I. Deliverables

Data file deliverable items will be submitted in SAS format and Excel (if requested). All other reports shall be produced in Word or PDF files. They shall all be submitted electronically to the

CORA and the list of persons specified by the COR.