6-Attachment C - Scope of Work.pdf

Attachment C

Scope of Work - H.B. 250 Retirement Plan Exchange Platform Administrator

1. Introduction

The Office of State Treasurer (“Office”) is entering into an agreement with a qualified contractor to establish, administer, and maintain a secure, publicly accessible Retirement Plan Exchange (“Exchange”) in accordance with Utah Code Section 67-4-23.

The Exchange will serve as a technology-enabled marketplace that allows eligible employers to easily establish a qualified retirement plan offered by private-sector providers or establish an auto-IRA program.

A core objective of the Exchange is to remove complexity from the retirement plan selection process and enable employers to make informed decisions quickly and confidently. The contractor will act as the Exchange Platform Administrator and will be responsible for delivering a fully operational platform by applicable statutory deadlines.

The Office recognizes that initial provider participation may be intentionally limited in order to support service quality, operational efficiency, and meaningful provider engagement.

1.1. Background

Utah Code § 67-4-23 authorizes the creation of a Retirement Plan Exchange to expand access to retirement savings options for small and medium-sized employers.

The Exchange is intended to address this gap by creating a centralized, transparent marketplace of private-sector retirement plan providers without requiring the State to sponsor, endorse, or act as fiduciary for any plan.

1.2. Scope of Work

The Contractor shall design, implement, and operate a Retirement Plan Exchange platform that enables eligible employers to evaluate, compare, and select retirement plan options from participating private-sector providers.

The platform shall be designed to function as a neutral marketplace and must support scalable participation by employers and providers.

Out of Scope:

- The Contractor shall not act as a retirement plan provider

- The Contractor shall not assume fiduciary responsibility for any plan

Agency Responsibilities:

1. Provide oversight and policy direction; and

2. Supply employer data where authorized.

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Key Milestones:

1. Platform operational by statutory deadline;

2. Provider intake launched by statutory deadline; and

3. Full operations launched by statutory deadline.

2. Requirements

1. Platform Establishment and Operation:

- Design, deploy, and maintain a secure, publicly accessible online platform;

- Provide a state-branded employer interface;

- Support employer account creation and secure login functionality; and

- Maintain platform neutrality among participating providers.

2. Employer Intake and Plan Pathway Determination

- The platform shall be designed to prioritize simplicity, speed, and ease of decision-making for employers. The platform must enable employers to evaluate options and reach a confident plan selection in a minimal number of steps and within a short time frame, without requiring specialized knowledge of retirement plans.

- The platform shall include a structured employer onboarding process that:

• Collects employer demographic and contact information;

• Gathers plan-relevant data (e.g., employee count, payroll characteristics, existing plan status); and

• Applies a consistent decision framework to determine appropriate plan pathways.

- The platform must support multiple plan pathways, including:

• Automatic-enrollment IRA arrangements; and

• Automatic-enrollment 401(k) plans.

- The platform shall be designed to achieve the following usability objectives:

• Employers are able to complete initial onboarding and reach a plan selection in a streamlined, guided process; and

• The process minimizes decision friction and avoids unnecessary complexity.

- The Contractor shall describe the methodology used to guide employers through pathway determination and plan selection.

- The Contractor shall describe the employer onboarding experience, including:

• Estimated time required to complete enrollment;

• Number of steps in the process; and

• Level of employer support provided.

- The platform shall be designed to accommodate employers with limited familiarity with retirement plans, including:

• Plain-language guidance;

• Decision support tools; and

• Optional assisted enrollment processes.

- The onboarding and decision process shall be designed to:

• Minimize the number of required inputs and steps;

• Provide clear, plain-language guidance; and

• Enable employers to reach a plan selection decision in minutes rather than hours.

- The Contractor shall describe:

• The expected number of steps in the employer journey;

• The estimated time required to reach a plan selection; and

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• How the platform reduces complexity for employers unfamiliar with retirement plan terminology.

3. Provider Marketplace and Plan Selection

- The platform shall:

• Present participating providers in a standardized and neutral format;

• Enable employers to review and compare plan features, services, and costs; and

• Support employer selection of a plan provider through a structured interface.

- The Contractor shall maintain processes for:

• Attracting and onboarding participating providers, including IRA and other eligible plan providers. This shall include:

1. Target provider types and market segments;

2. Value proposition for provider participation;

3. Approach to ensuring a sufficient number and diversity of providers to support a competitive marketplace.

• Defining participation criteria; and

• Ensuring ongoing compliance and performance monitoring.

- The Contractor shall describe in detail all sources of compensation or revenue associated with operation of the platform, including any compensation received from retirement plan providers or related entities.

• Please provide a detailed schedule of fees that would be assessed to platform participants.

• Provide an analysis comparing fees assessed to plan participants accessing retirement account savings programs directly through a plan provider versus those that access those same providers through this platform.

• Explain whether compensation affects provider participation, placement, visibility, rankings, recommendations, search results, or other presentation of providers on the platform.

- The Contractor shall describe how all platform fees, provider fees, and investment management fees will be:

• Clearly disclosed to employers,participants, and the state ;

• Presented in a standardized and comparable format; and

• Determined to be reasonable.

- The Contractor shall describe safeguards to ensure that only plans with reasonable and competitive fee structures are offered through the platform.

• Per statute, the state may remove or suspend a plan provider's listing if the state determines that the plan provider is not in compliance with state law or engages in conduct that is detrimental to participating employers or participating employees, including charging excessive fees, mismanaging assets, or breaching a fiduciary duty.

- The platform shall present plan options in a manner that simplifies comparison and reduces decision complexity, including:

• Standardized plan summaries;

• Clear highlighting of key differences; an d

• Decision-support tools that guide employers toward an appropriate selection.

- The Contractor shall describe how the platform avoids overwhelming employers with excessive or overly technical information.

4. Provider Due Diligence and Oversight

- The Contractor shall implement a structured process for the evaluation and oversight of participating providers, which may include:

• Competitive procurement or qualification processes;

• Review of provider capabilities and service models;

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• Assessment of financial stability and regulatory standing; and

• Verification of operational readiness and integration capability.

- The Contractor shall maintain ongoing monitoring of provider performance and compliance.

- The Contractor shall describe how provider participation requirements, including any expectations related to outreach or marketing, will be:

• Established;

• Communicated; and

• Monitored and enforced over time.

- The Contractor shall define the criteria used to evaluate whether a provider offers sufficient value to participants, including consideration of:

• Fee levels and transparency;

• Service quality;

• Investment options; and

• Participant outcomes.

- The Contractor shall describe the process for:

• Denying participation to providers that do not meet these standards; and

• Removing or restricting providers that fail to maintain acceptable performance.

- The Contractor shall describe expectations for participating providers in supporting marketplace adoption, including any requirements related to outreach or marketing of the Exchange.

5. Employer Onboarding and Implementation Support

- Following employer selection of a provider, the platform shall:

• Facilitate the transfer of employer data to the appropriate service provider or administrator;

• Support the initiation of plan onboarding processes; and

• Provide status tracking for employer onboarding progress.

- The Contractor shall ensure that the transition from plan selection to implementation is seamless and requires minimal additional effort from the employer.

- The Contractor shall describe how the platform minimizes drop-off between plan selection and plan onboarding.

6. Data Management, Reporting, and Analytics

- The Contractor shall:

• Collect and maintain data related to employer participation, employee participation, and plan activity;

• Aggregate data received from participating providers; and

• Provide reporting dashboards accessible to the Office.

- The Contractor shall propose measurable performance indicators to evaluate the success of the Exchange. Reporting shall include, at a minimum:

• Number of participating employers;

• Number of participating employees;

• Average plan costs;

• Time required for employer onboarding;

• Total plan assets;

• Employer retention rates;

• Average time to plan selection;

• Number of steps to completion;

• Employer completion rates;

• Participation and opt-out rates; and

• Other program performance indicators

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- The Contractor shall describe how these metrics will be tracked and reported to the Office.

7. Outreach, Education, and Engagement

- The Contractor shall develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to drive employer awareness, engagement, and adoption of the Exchange.

- This strategy shall include:

• Identification of target employer segments (e.g., small businesses by size, industry, or geography)

• Outreach channels, partnerships, and engagement strategies

• Conversion strategies to move employers from awareness to enrollment

- The Contractor shall provide a proposed multi-year marketing and outreach plan, including:

• Estimated annual budget

• Assumptions regarding participation levels

• Expected adoption outcomes

- The Contractor shall identify proposed funding sources for marketing and outreach activities. Funding sources may include contractor resources, participating providers, state-supported outreach initiatives, or other public-private partnership structures.

- The Contractor shall describe how its approach will support the development of a self-sustaining marketplace without ongoing state funding.

- The Contractor shall provide tools and processes for tracking outreach effectiveness, including employer engagement and conversion metrics.

8. Exchange Sustainability and Compensation Model

- The Contractor shall describe its approach to supporting the ongoing operation and sustainability of the Exchange.

- The Exchange is intended to operate as a private-sector supported marketplace, and the

Contractor may receive compensation from participating providers. Such compensation must:

1. Maintain neutrality among providers;

2. Be fully disclosed as required by law;

3. Avoid preferential treatment of any provider;

4. Not create incentives that favor higher-cost plans over lower-cost plans;

and

5. Not influence provider ranking, visibility, or selection in a manner that disadvantages participants

- The Contractor shall clearly describe:

• All revenue sources and fee structures;

• Which parties are responsible for the payment of fees;

• How fee structures align with participant best interest; and marketplace neutrality.

- The State is not required to fund the ongoing operation of the Exchange.

9. Security and Compliance

- The Contractor shall describe safeguards to protect against:

• Fraud;

• Theft;

• Unauthorized access; and

• Data breaches.

- The Contractor shall provide a detailed incident response plan, including:

• Detection and response protocols;

• Notification timelines; and

• Remediation procedures.

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- The Contractor shall describe how the following parties will be protected and indemnified in the event of security failures:

• The state;

• Participating employers; and

• Plan participants.

- The Contractor shall describe applicable insurance coverage, including cyber liability and errors and omissions coverage.

10. Implementation Timeline

- The Contractor shall demonstrate the ability to:

• Deploy the Exchange platform prior to or on statutory deadlines;

• Initiate provider onboarding prior to or on statutory deadlines; and

• Support program launch within required timeframes.

- Respondents may include accelerated implementation timelines.

11. Structural Requirements

- The Contractor:

• Shall not act as a retirement plan provider within the Exchange;

• Shall not assume fiduciary responsibility; and

• Shall maintain neutrality among participating providers

3. Compliance

The Contractor must comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.

Performance will be evaluated based on platform functionality, security, reporting accuracy, and adherence to neutrality requirements.

The Office may audit contractor performance and require corrective actions as needed.

3.1 Gov Ramp Certification & Requirements

In compliance with the Utah terms and conditions, where the product does not already have a FedRAMP or GovRAMP authorization status the following provisions apply:

● At the time of contract execution, the product must be enrolled in the GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot Program and remain in the program until a verified status is achieved.

● The product must achieve a verified status of GovRAMP Core no later than 12 months after the date of contract execution and achieve a verified status of GovRAMP Moderate Authorized no later than 24 months after the date of contract execution.

● If the Contractor fails to maintain or achieve the security requirements outlined above, the using department may reevaluate the terms of the contract and determine whether the failure to comply justifies contract termination.

4. Project Deliverables

1. Fully operational Exchange platform;

2. Employer database and CRM system;

3. Provider onboarding system;

4. Plan comparison tools;

5. Reporting dashboards; and

6. Business continuity plan.

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5. Project Budget The Exchange must operate as a self-sustaining model without ongoing state funding.

The Contractor must define all revenue sources, fee structures, and responsible parties for payment.

6. Reference Documents

- Utah Code § 67-4-23

- Applicable federal regulations

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