REIT_Industry_Questions_and_Answers_(Part_I).pdf

Active Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Investment Management Services Solicitation No. PBGC01-RP-15-0028

Industry Questions and Answers (Part I)

1. Question: Can you please confirm that the due date for this RFP is in fact October 5, 2015?

The only reference to the due date seems to be on the website and not in the RFP documents.

Answer: Yes, the RFP due date is October 5, 2015 by 9:00AM EST.

2. Question: Can you please confirm if we need to complete the Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items for submission of the RFP?

Answer: Yes. Offerors shall submit the Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) as well any SF30 Amendments that may be issued along with the proposal submission.

Offerors must ensure to complete the following blocks: 17a. Contractor/Offeror; 30a. Signature of Offeror/Contractor and 30b Name and Title of Signer.

3. Question: Can you please provide a succinct list of all of the items that are required for the submission of this RFP?

Answer: Please refer to Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors and other sections as applicable in the solicitation.

4. Question: Section K, Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors: Can you please confirm if the requested certifications/representations need to be made at the time of submission of the RFP? Or if/when the contract is awarded?

Answer. Section L.24 VOLUME III, PHASE II – Business / Price Proposal states: The Pricing Volume shall consist of the signed solicitation document, the total extended pricing entered at the appropriate CLIN for the base year period of performance and all option year periods of performance, and all completed representations and certifications, as required. The completed representations and certifications shall be included in the Business / Price Proposal.

5. Question: In the Solicitation document block 23 and 24 the Unit Price and Amount, should we base it on the $325,000,000, or should we enter the breakdown from the CLIN?

Answer: Blocks 23 and 24 the Unit Price and Amount maybe left blank in the SF Form 1449. The offeror shall submit the price proposal in accordance with the Section B Pricing Schedule and Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors and other sections as applicable in the solicitation.

6. Question: In Attachment II – Technical Approach Questionnaire, for question 6 in Section I

– Performance, do you require only one compact disk or seven disks along with each hard copy of the proposal (i.e. is USB flash drive acceptable)?

Answer: Please submit one disk along with seven hard copies of the proposal. USB flash drive is not acceptable.

7. Question: As per the statement provided in the solicitation document “In order to be eligible for award, all responsible sources must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) and may register online at the website, www.sam.gov. “ Please clarify if registration is required prior to RFP submission on October 5th or just prior to being awarded the actual mandate.

Answer: The SAM registration is required prior to an offeror being awarded a contract.

8. Question: As noted in the SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS form (page 1 of the solicitation document) are we required to complete blocks 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30? Can you please provide any guidance on what is required and if we are required to sign it?

Answer: Offerors shall submit a signed copy of the Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) as well any SF30 Amendments that may be issued along with the proposal submission. Offerors must ensure to complete the following blocks only: 17a. Contractor/Offeror;

30a. Signature of Offeror/Contractor and 30b Name and Title of Signer.

9. Question: Does the Contractor need to sign the first page of the “Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items” form and provide in Phase I, Volume I or will this be required after awarding the mandate?

Answer: Offerors shall submit a signed copy of the Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) as well any SF30 Amendments that may be issued along with the proposal submission. Offerors must ensure to complete the following blocks only: 17a. Contractor/Offeror;

30a. Signature of Offeror/Contractor and 30b Name and Title of Signer. Offerors shall submit the proposals in accordance with Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors and other sections as applicable in the solicitation.

10. Question: In the Letter of Transmittal (Section L.15), it requires the following:

A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item;

Is the contract within the document titled (PBGC01-RP-15-0028(29JUL2015).pdf” which contains all terms, conditions, and provisions or is there a separate IMA which will be negotiated?

Answer: PBGC01-RP-15-0028 is the solicitation and contains all the terms, conditions, and provisions that will apply to the resulting contract(s). There will not be a separate IMA.

11. Question: If this is the contract, how do we indicate acceptance and possible negotiated items? Do we provide a compliance matrix along with the Letter of Transmittal noting any terms we would like to negotiate or clarify?

http://www.sam.gov/

Answer: PBGC encourages offerors to submit a compliance matrix along with the Letter of Transmittal noting any terms they need to negotiate or clarify in accordance with section L.23 PHASE II, VOLUME II - TECHNICAL PROPOSAL 1.i Offeror Validity Statement.

12. Question: If a negotiation period is allowed, will that happen prior to or after the mandate is won?

Answer: The negotiation period will occur prior to the contract award.

13. Question: The term ‘Subcontractor’ (e.g. Section H) within the terms, conditions and provisions, is this defined as entities in which the Contractor outsources certain tasks to (e.g.

proxy voting)?

Answer: “Subcontractors” shall mean a person or entity that is engaged, via a “Subcontract,” to provide services solely as a result of this contract (and that Contractor’s service providers, which provide services to all of the Contractor’s clients, are not and shall not be considered to be subcontractors). In the event a contractor makes a decision to engage in subcontracts solely as a result of receiving this contract, or throughout the contract performance, the Government reserves its right to require a subcontracting plan in accordance with the requirements of this clause. A subcontractor relationship would require the contractor to flow down the FAR and PBGC clauses.

14. Question: On the Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items Form 1449 (Offeror to Complete Blocks 12, 17, 23, 24 & 30), can you provide additional details/direction as to what information respondents should provide in Blocks 12, 17, 23 and 24?

Answer: Offerors shall submit the Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) as well any SF30 Amendments that may be issued along with the proposal submission. Offerors must ensure to complete the following blocks: 17a. Contractor/Offeror; 30a. Signature of Offeror/Contractor and 30b Name and Title of Signer.

15. Question: The US Real Estate Securities Team has approximately $2.8B in AUS in its US Real Estate Securities Strategy which includes both total return and income-oriented products. The product we would like to propose to PBGC is our US Real Estate Securities Total Return Strategy, which has approximately $768M in AUS. Given the size of the broader US Real Estate Securities Strategy ($2.8B), would we qualify for this opportunity if we propose the US Real Estate Securities Total Return Strategy?

Answer: No, the proposed product alone must have at least $1.3 billion in assets under management.

Total team assets will not qualify.

16. Question: Our US Real Estate Securities Total Return Strategy is benchmarked to the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index. While the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index is not listed as one of requirement #5’s accepted benchmarks, the Wilshire US REIT Index is listed and this benchmark is a subset of the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index. Per Wilshire’s website, “The Wilshire US Real Estate Investment Trust IndexSM (Wilshire US REIT) measures U.S. publicly-traded real estate investment trusts and is a subset of the Wilshire US Real Estate Securities IndexSM (Wilshire US RESI).” Would the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index be accepted for this opportunity?

Answer: Yes, the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index is an acceptable benchmark to present information ratio against. This benchmark must also be presented with any performance tables required in the Technical Proposal, Volume II. Also, please note mandatory requirement 2, where Offerors must be willing to benchmark the proposed product against the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index for PBGC’s account.

17. Question: Does the PBGC currently have an allocation to the US REIT market? If so, is their current allocation actively or passively managed?

Answer: The PBGC currently maintains a passive investment in the U.S. REIT market.

18. Question: Regarding investment vehicle, would the PBGC consider an investment via an institutional share class mutual fund?

Answer: No, the PBGC will not consider investments in institutional share class mutual funds.

19. Question: Is the PBGC working with a Consultant to aid in this search? If so, who is the

Consultant?

Answer: Wilshire Associates will be providing advisory support to the Government during the course of this Acquisition.

20. Question: What is the overall timeline in regards to manager selection and funding?

Answer: PBGC anticipates making awards and funding mandates in summer of 2016.

21. Question: In L. 23 Phase II, Volume II- Technical Proposal, 2. Instructions for Factor III-

Past Performance, would the PBGC be willing to consider a government client as a reference to fulfill your “one public fund client” condition?

Answer: A government client can be submitted as a reference as a public fund client.

22. Question: We wanted to inquire what the stated benchmark will be? We are equity portfolio managers on the XYZ Equity Platform, with over a 10 year track record of managing an active and systematic strategy that seeks to deliver excess returns over a benchmark with a diversified and risk controlled portfolio. We have track records in U.S. and International equity but no specific long only REIT. We do however have experience historically in the REIT space.

Answer: The proposed fund must be a long only U.S. REIT strategy with at least five years of live track record. PBGC will not make exceptions to the minimum requirements. Upon submitting a proposal if a firm is determined to not meet the requirements it will not be considered. Please see Section J, Attachment I – Mandatory Requirements. Offerors must be willing to accept the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index as the benchmark. Section J, Attachment I also lists all other Mandatory Requirements that must be met for a firm to be considered for award. Please refer to the Solicitation for more information on the Mandatories and other requirements.

23. Question: Can you please confirm the timing of this process? I.E when the review of submissions will take place, the timing of any due diligence visits, presentations, and awarding of the mandate?

Answer: Should a firm submit a proposal, PBGC will keep the Offeror informed of timelines during each phase of the evaluation. Currently, PBGC anticipates making awards and funding mandates in summer of 2016.

24. Question: Section J, Attachment 1, Question #3:

Mandatory requirement for AUM in the proposed product is $1.3 billion as of 6/30/2015. In June 2015, the US RES market was down by 4%. As a result, our AUM in the proposed product dropped to $1.233 billion. Our AUM was at the $1.3 billion level or above in prior months (see below):

December 2014: $1.3 billion January 2015: $1.4 billion February 2015: $1.4 billion March 2015: $1.4 billion April 2015: $1.3 billion May 2015: 1.3 billion As the market moved up in July, our AUM was $1.3 as of 7/31/2015.

Given we just missed the minimum AUM requirement in June due to market fluctuation, can you please confirm if our AUM in June of $1.233 billion would be considered meeting the minimum requirement?

Answer: The AUM in the proposed fund must be $1.3 billion as of June 30, 2015. PBGC will not make exceptions to the minimum requirements. Upon submitting a proposal if a firm is determined to not meet the requirements it will not be considered.

25. Question: Section J, Attachment 3, Question #2: Can you please explain the process if our current clients do not want to release the specific information requested? What would be an acceptable format?

Answer: Please provide as much detail as possible in answering the question. If you are unable to publish client names, please provide client type.

26. Question: Section J, Attachment 3, Question #6: Can you please confirm if the information on terminated accounts is related to all programs managed by the firm or only the subject product?

Answer: Please provide information on accounts that have terminated in the proposed product.

27. Question: In answering the Mandatory Requirements in Phase I, Volume I, it is requested that the answer requires supporting documentation that provides convincing evidence of how all Mandatory Requirements are met shall be evaluated on a Pass / Fail basis. i.e. The Offeror must be willing to benchmark the proposed product against the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index. For supporting documentation would it be acceptable for a statement indicating that our strategy uses the requested benchmark?

Answer: For Mandatory Requirement #2, a statement indicating that the Offeror is willing to benchmark the proposed product to the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index would suffice as supporting documentation. In addition, please remember to circle “yes” when confirming your compliance with the Mandatory Requirements.

28. Question: In Section J Attachment III – REIT Questionnaire, question #8, in the “Summary” following Table 14, can you please provide the proper formulas for calculating “% Cumulative Turnover” and “Average Annual % Turnover”?

Answer: Average Annual % Turnover is calculated by dividing the annual separations by the average monthly employment over the year. Cumulative Turnover (%) is calculated by dividing the total separations over a period by the average monthly employment over the same period.

29. Question: In Section J Attachment III – REIT Questionnaire, “Table 16 – Client AUM of

Largest Investors in Proposed Product,” if the manager has requested and the client has denied permission to be listed by name in this RFP, is it acceptable to substitute the name of the client with a description of the type of account, (i.e. “Corporate Pension Plan – Name Confidential” or “Public Pension Plan – Name Confidential”) next to the requested account details?

30. Question: Where tables are copied from MS Excel and pasted into the MS Word document, in order to fit all columns and information across the width of the page, is it for the type-face used in the table (in the MS Word document) to be smaller than 12 pt? Similarly, in order to fit across the width of the page, is it OK for the margins for the table appears to be less than 1 inch?

Answer: Please make the tables as legible as possible. In order to fit tables onto a page, it is permissible to reduce the font size within the table and/or decrease the margins.

31. Question: In Attachment II – Technical Approach Questionnaire, for question 6 in Section I

– Performance, if our strategy has track record in excess of 10-15 years, is it necessary to provide attribution since inception, what length of time is required?

Answer: Please provide an annual calendar year attribution analysis over the last 10 years through June 30, 2015.

32. Question: In Attachment III – Corporate Experience Questionnaire, 2, and 6, is it necessary to list client names or can we provide by client type?

33. Question: Section C – Description/Specifications/Work Statement – Disaster Recovery - Are we required to provide our disaster recovery testing results? This document is considered proprietary information.

Answer: PBGC requires that vendors provide a copy, or a summary thereof, of the annual test results to the PBGC within 30 calendar days of the completion of the test. A summary of the results would suffice.

34. Question: (Page 70 – Instructions for Factor III – Past Performance) With respect to

PBGC’s requirement of providing evidence of meeting delivery dates and schedules the same as, or substantially similar to that required by the solicitation, can you please confirm that providing 3 past performance references within the past 5 years fully satisfies the requirement of providing evidence?

Answer: Please provide 3 past performance references for the proposed products that can address the factors as stated in Section L of the solicitation. Please also refer to L.23 Section 3 for the required contact information. Please include the references in your Volume II, Technical Proposal submission. You may also refer to section M.2.2.3 (Factor III – Past Performance), which states how PBGC intends to evaluate Offerors based on their references.

35. Question: I saw an announcement today about PBGC’s search for a REIT portfolio manager. The XYZ Company is a private equity real estate manager specializing in multifamily investments. Would we qualify to participate, or is the RFP designed for public REITs?

Answer: PBGC is seeking active investment managers in the public REIT space only. PBGC will not consider investments in private real estate at this time.