SECTION_J_-_ATT_3_TECH_PROF_QUES_FINAL_2.docx

PLEASE RESPOND TO EACH OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE FORMAT BELOW. PROVIDE ANY REQUESTED EXAMPLE DOCUMENTS AS ATTACHMENTS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE OR AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT TO VOLUME II OF THIS SOLICITATION. PLEASE REFERENCE THE NUMBER OF THE QUESTION FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE IN THE ATTACHMENT OR SEPARATE DOCUMENT SO THEY MAY BE EASILY CROSSREFERENCED.

1. INVESTMENT ANALYSIS PROCESS (INCLUDING RESEARCH CAPABILITIES)

1.1. Investment Program Review / Analysis (Models)

1.1.1. Discuss the theory and methodology of the models your firm uses for asset/liability studies. What are the assumptions your model uses which are inherent to the methodology? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this methodology/model? What changes have been made in this model and methodology in the past five years?

1.1.2. State whether the model is proprietary or an outside contractor’s model. If it is an outside contractor’s model, indicate the name of the contractor, the name of the model, and the reason for using that model.

1.1.3. How many asset classes does your asset allocation model accommodate? For each asset class, discuss the derivation of expected returns, risks, correlations and use of constraints for scenario forecasting. How are capital market assumptions developed? What is their source and how often are they revised? How are the capital market assumptions communicated to clients?

1.1.4. Please include a copy of your most recent capital market assumptions and analysis as an attachment in the appendix. Include at a minimum expected returns, standard deviations, and correlations.

1.1.5. How are the liability structure and funding level incorporated into this asset allocation model?

1.1.6. Please describe your experience with liability management. Describe your approach to modeling liabilities.

1.1.7. Please describe your firm’s actuarial capabilities and resources utilized to support clients.

1.1.8. Describe your firm’s capability and experience in providing Liability Driven Investment (LDI) analysis and solutions for clients.

1.1.9. Please include samples of investment policy studies and statements you have recently prepared. Please include a sample of a recent model asset allocation analysis.

1.2. Outline your process for each of the following:

1.2.1. Development of client overall investment policy as well as asset class structure for specific asset classes.

1.2.2. Analyzing a client’s investment portfolio structure. Describe your process for recommending modifications to the portfolio structure as warranted by changes in the marketplace.

1.2.3. Maintaining and providing a continuous review of your client’s investment policy, investment strategy and portfolio mix.

1.2.4. Describe how you will identify and evaluate new investment opportunities to recommend to PBGC.

1.3. Does your firm have an orientation to a particular asset class or approach (e.g., active vs. passive, equities, fixed income)? Please discuss your firm’s views on active vs. passive management and when it is appropriate to use each and how to determine the optimum mix.

1.4. Please include samples of recent asset class analysis, characteristic, attribution, and style mapping reports as an attachment in the appendix.

1.5. What are your firm’s greatest strengths as it relates to investment knowledge? What are your weaknesses as it relates to investment knowledge? State what you believe sets your consulting services apart from your competitors. What performance benchmarks have you recommended to evaluate liability management and how are they constructed?

1.6. Describe the process you will use to recommend investment portfolio guidelines.

1.7. What role do you see real estate playing in a large pension fund today? In the future? What form(s) of investments in real estate do you feel are prudent, if any?

1.8. What are your views on the role of the following alternative investments in a pension fund:

1.8.1. Hedge funds

1.8.2. Venture Capital/Private Equity

1.9. What expertise can your firm provide in the evaluation and implementation of a new investment into an alternative asset class? Have you ever recommended against an investment in a particular asset class due to implementation reasons?

1.10. What do you see as being the most significant changes that will be occurring in asset allocation for pension funds over the next 5 and 10 years? Please comment.

1.11. Describe your experience reviewing and providing recommendations based on a 3rd party risk management system. Please list any risk management systems you have used to analyze client portfolios.

2. RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

2.1. Describe the internal structure and organization of your research department. (If no separate department exists, describe how this function is performed). Describe the analytical resources available to the consultant and to clients. How are those resources accessed and employed in the consulting process?

2.2. Describe the manner in which external resources and sources of information are used in the research process. How does your firm integrate internal and external research?

2.3. Outline your process for monitoring and reporting on market trends. Describe your capabilities for reporting and tracking international trends and influences. Please describe the frequency of routine communication to clients on market trends.

2.4. List investment research reports or studies which you have provided clients in the past 12 months. Describe your capability to carry out special projects requested by PBGC. Provide a sample report that best represents your research capabilities.

2.5. Describe your computer/system capabilities and relate them to your consulting services or products. Do you provide any customized computer-based or internet-based analytical tools to your clients? Please describe these systems, and include the source of the data, the data included, and the analytical capabilities of the systems. Do these systems include holdings-based and returns-based analytics?

2.6. Describe your research capabilities as it relates to investment benchmarks. Please provide the number and name of benchmarks you follow and the names of those on which you provide detailed client research. Please provide a sample of a recent report concerning a benchmark change.

3. INVESTMENT MANAGER SEARCH / DUE DILIGENCE PROCESS

3.1. Discuss how you determine the effect of including new managers in the existing fund portfolios. Discuss any statistical analysis that is performed.

3.2. Describe your firm’s process for the evaluation and selection of investment managers for a client. Include how the firm evaluates a manager’s personnel and organization, investment philosophy, investment style(s) and products, research and/or modeling capabilities, financial condition, assets under management, type of clients, client service, and fees. Relate the process to a client’s goals, objectives, investment policy and fiduciary responsibility. How often are on-site due diligence meetings conducted with managers? Provide a copy of a recently completed fund manager’s evaluation as an attachment in the appendix.

3.3. Describe your firm’s methodology and sources of data for analyzing and evaluating a potential manager’s performance. Discuss benchmarks and comparisons with other managers. How is risk factored into this analysis? Discuss any attribution analysis that is performed and whether it is returns based or holdings based.

3.4. Does your firm maintain investment manager databases? If so, please describe the following:

3.4.1. Describe the Manager Database:

3.4.2. Describe the source of the Manager Database data:

3.4.3. How the firm gathers, verifies, and analyzes the data collected on managers for the universe, including international managers.

3.4.4. How frequently the database is updated?

3.4.5. Please include the following data on the managers from your database in the following format:

Total Products

Updated Products*

* Investment products which have return streams as of the latest calendar quarter. Do NOT include inactive products.

3.5. What criteria are employed for including or excluding a manager from either the published universe or the manager database?

3.6. Describe the screening process and capabilities of the database. Describe the capability of providing custom client reports.

3.7. Describe any portion of your database and client reporting system that is unique.

3.8. Detail who is responsible for maintaining the investment manager databases and who and how many persons assist in this process.

3.9. Outline your experience in assisting public fund clients with Investment Manager Selection and your involvement in the Request for Proposal Process.

3.10. Please include an example of a questionnaire you have prepared for manager selection.

3.11. Describe the process for evaluating a significant change at an investment management firm. Please include a recent example of an analysis of such a change.

3.12. Does your firm act as a third party vendor to independently verify that managers’ performance returns are accurate and were calculated in accordance GIPS?

3.13. Please discuss your views on performance-based fees, asset-backed fees, flat fees with or without performance bonuses, or any other fee structures you may recommend.

4. PROGRAM PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND TRANSACTION MONITORING REPORTS

4.1. Describe your process and sources of data for analyzing, monitoring and reporting performance of client’s investment vehicles, money managers and individual transactions. Relate the process to a client’s goals, objectives, and investment policy. Specifically, include the monitoring of performance, risk, style integrity, manager contract compliance, account restrictions, activities creating potential independence issues, reporting requirements, benchmark comparisons, and trading costs.

4.2. Please list your sources of security pricing (specify which sources are used for each asset class) and how frequently they are updated.

4.3. Describe the portfolio analytics you utilize in performance reporting and whether you calculate them independently. Describe your performance attribution analysis. How does it handle international stock and bond portfolios and portfolios containing derivative instruments such as futures and options? How does it handle swap transactions, forward contracts and mortgage derivatives? What are the weaknesses of your attribution model?

4.4. Describe how benchmarks are chosen or developed and how performance is compared to similar portfolios. Can your firm provide custom benchmarks? Style benchmarks? Please indicate whether your firm has ever developed benchmarks and, if so, provide a description of the benchmarks developed.

4.5. Please list the manager universe types (e.g., equity, fixed income, international) which you publish or use. Do you also maintain unpublished universes? Do you maintain style universes unique to your firm? If so, how are they defined?

4.6. Describe your experience and capabilities in analyzing and monitoring small and emerging managers, including women and minority owned firms, real estate, venture capital and illiquid assets.

4.7. Describe how you provide analytics for a fixed income product with an Asset/Liability mandate?

4.8. Please describe your reconciliation process with managers and custodians. How are performance data and manager results verified?

4.9. How do you incorporate the performance of alternative assets into total fund performance?

4.10. Can your system base reports and historical data on a September 30 fiscal year? How many years of data can your system hold for a client? List the longest period for which your system holds continuous and complete client performance and analytics.

4.11. Please provide samples of your standard investment manager performance and analytics reports.

4.12. How frequently are investment manager performance and analytics reports published? How often are they updated? How soon after quarter-end can you guarantee delivery of reports?

4.13. Please describe your transition plan for assuming full contractual responsibility without service disruption or degradation of performance during the transition period. Identify any risks and propose an appropriate response strategy. Include an estimated start-up schedule and describe the time and process needed to backload data from a previous consultant or custodian.

4.14. Describe the firm’s criteria for recommending placing a manager on probation, removing a manager from probation and firing a manager.

4.15. Describe the firm’s capabilities and process for evaluating a client’s investment operations, including trust/custody services, counterparty risk, transition management providers, transaction costs, and any other investment services. Please include any relevant sample reports and analysis.

4.16. Describe your firm’s capabilities in evaluating trade execution. Describe how you would advise a client regarding minimizing trading costs (including foreign exchange) both on an ongoing basis and during a manager transition.

4.17. What is your firm’s position on the use of a client’s commission dollars to purchase research or services for the use of the money manager?

4.18. Outline your process, resources and experience in assisting in the liquidation and transfer of large amounts of assets. Describe the experience the person(s) who would be responsible for this account has with large transitions.

4.19. Describe your capabilities in the analysis of a securities lending program. Does your firm provide benchmark reports for client securities lending programs compared to a relative peer group, quantitative and qualitative analyses of securities lending programs or updates and commentary on industry and regulatory developments? If so, please describe.

5. ORGANIZATION AND EXPERIENCE:

The Offeror shall describe its Corporate Experience, and the experience of its major subcontractors and/or joint venture partners, if any, that demonstrates experience and expertise for this requirement. Information on the Offeror's size, experience, and resources available to enable the Offeror to fulfill the requirements shall be provided. When demonstrating experience, the Offeror shall provide sufficient detail to convince evaluators of the relevance of actual experience, complexity of the work, and comparability of experience to that in this Statement of Objectives. A minimum of three corporate years of experience on projects of similar size, scope and compliance shall be provided. Please answer the questions below.

5.1. Background

5.1.1. Year organization founded and a brief history of the firm, including the date the firm was registered with the SEC as a registered investment advisor. Provide a link to the complete Form ADV Part I and Part II including all Disclosure Reporting Pages.

5.1.2. Location(s) and telephone number(s) of headquarters and branch office(s). If several locations, what quality controls does the firm use to ensure consistency of services among clients, and how does the firm handle research, information processing and databases in multiple locations?

5.1.3. Describe the ownership structure of your organization. List any affiliated companies. Please provide an organization chart, and please also diagram the interrelationships between any parent-subsidiary, affiliate, or joint venture entities.

5.1.4. Within the past three years, have there been any significant developments in your organization (changes in ownership, personnel reorganization, divestiture of business etc.)? If so, please describe.

5.1.5. Do you anticipate any near-term changes in your organization’s basic ownership structure or any other significant changes in your organization? If so, please explain.

5.1.6. How many years has your organization been providing pension consulting services to tax-exempt organizations?

5.1.7. Please list your firm’s lines of business and approximate contributions of each business to your organization’s total revenue. Provide breakdown in dollar value and percentage.

5.1.8. If you are an affiliate or subsidiary of an organization, what percentage of the parent firm’s total revenue does your subsidiary or affiliate generate?

5.1.9. Does your firm or an affiliate manage money for clients?

5.1.10. Is your firm or its parent or affiliate a broker/dealer? Does your firm trade for client accounts through this broker/dealer? Does your firm accept soft-dollars as a method of payment for services provided?

5.1.11. Explain any potential issues that could be created by the firm’s representation of PBGC, including issues with other client relationships, other services that your firm provides, or other revenue sources. Include other relationships that may inhibit services to PBGC.

5.1.12. Describe your policies and practices to prevent independence issues from arising with other client interests or resulting from other investment products or services.

5.1.13. How would you describe the full range of services you provide to clients in a full-service consulting relationship? Indicate which services are the firm’s specialties or areas of greatest expertise.

5.1.14. Has your organization or any officer or principal been involved in any business litigation or other legal proceedings relating to your consulting activities or other activities of the firm? If so, provide a brief explanation and indicate the current status.

5.1.15. Has your firm been the subject of any Attorney General, SEC or regulatory inquiries, investigations or audits in the last five years? If so, provide an explanation and indicate the current status.

5.1.16. Is your firm and/or the firm’s key personnel covered by insurance policies (or bonded) against liability for violations of fiduciary duty and/or for errors and omissions: If the answer is “yes,” please supply the name of the insurance carrier or carriers and the type and amount of coverage afforded by each policy. If the answer is “no,” how would the PBGC be protected against such occurrences?

5.1.17. Do you have a plan and arrangements in place for an alternative work site should your facilities become inoperative because of fire, earthquake, etc.? Provide your firm’s most recent disaster recovery plan, and indicate the frequency of testing and the date of the last test. Please provide the results of the last test. If you are precluded from providing detail on the results, please provide a high level summary.

5.1.18. Has your firm ever been subjected to an independent evaluation of its internal control policies and procedures? If so, please provide a copy. Have any of your clients had such an evaluation conducted on their behalf? If available, please provide copies. Please indicate whether such evaluations have identified any weaknesses within the firm and describe any corrective actions that have been implemented

5.1.19. Does your firm maintain a written code of conduct, a “Code of Ethics”? If so, please provide this document.

5.1.20. Discuss your organization’s succession plan. Does the firm anticipate any significant changes in its organizational leadership?

5.1.21. Do you or a related company have relationships with or receive any payments from money managers you recommend, consider for recommendation, or otherwise mention to clients for consideration? If so, please describe these relationships and the extent of these payments in relation to your other income (revenue)?

5.1.22. Does your firm directly or indirectly charge money managers to be included in the firm’s manager research database? Are there any circumstances under which you receive fees from investment managers? Does the firm receive revenues from money management firms or for their attendance at conferences or meetings sponsored by the firm? Does the firm receive revenues from custodian banks? If yes to any of these questions, please describe the annual amount of payments and specific justifications for each transaction. Include also an explanation for how these payments do not infringe on the independence of your consulting services and advice.

5.1.23. Do you have any policies or procedures to address potential independence issues or to prevent any such payments or relationships from being considered when you provide advice to your clients?

5.1.24. Has your firm ever received loans from any money management firms, their subsidiaries or principals? From custodian banks? If yes, please explain.

5.1.25. Do you allow clients to pay your consulting fees using the plan’s brokerage commissions? If so, what percentage of consulting revenues is paid from soft dollar payments? Do you monitor the amount of commissions paid and alert clients when consulting fees have been paid in full? If not, how can a plan make sure it does not over-pay its consulting fees?

5.1.26. If you allow clients to pay your consulting fees using the plan’s brokerage commissions, what steps do you take to ensure that the client receives best execution for its securities trades?

5.1.27. Do you have any arrangements with broker-dealers under which you or a related company will benefit if money managers place trades for their clients with such broker-dealers?

5.1.28. Will you acknowledge in writing that you have a fiduciary obligation as an investment adviser to PBGC while providing the consulting services we are seeking?

5.1.29. What percentage of your clients utilize money managers, investment funds, brokerage services or other service providers from whom you receive fees?

5.1.30. The Contractor shall provide a list of all their proprietary products and services not specifically requested in the Statement of Objectives, but that may be provided in a typical investment consulting relationship. The list shall include the name and a description of the product or service in this format:

5.2. Professional Staff

5.2.1. Please list the number of the firm’s employees involved in:

_______Marketing _______Client Consultation _______Research _______Data Processing _______Support Services _______Other (please explain) _______Total Employees

5.2.2. Please list the number of your firm’s employees who have specific expertise in the areas listed below. In addition, please provide the names of the personnel for each category.

5.2.3. In the format listed below, please provide the names of consultants, researchers and systems support personnel. Identify all principals of the firm.

Professional Certifications

** Most advanced degree only.

5.2.4. In the format below, please provide a listing of all persons who would significantly contribute to the PBGC account, the total number of clients that person would serve and the % of their time they would focus on PBGC’s account.

5.2.5. For all of the professionals highlighted in 5.2.4 above, please provide a detailed biography for each, including, but not limited to, the tenure in current position, areas of expertise, and previous responsibilities within the firm or previous employer. Include the publication of articles in financial journals on topics related to pension consulting. Please also provide biographies for other key personnel.

5.2.6. Please indicate the turnover level of your firm. Include all hires and terminations of professional staff over the past three years as follows. (If none, please indicate).

5.2.7. Give a brief description of your firm’s compensation arrangements for professional staff, including any incentive bonuses and how and for what are they awarded.

5.2.8. Provide an organizational chart showing functions, positions and titles of all personnel involved in pension consulting services.

5.2.9. Have any of your firm’s officers, principals or Primary Consultant(s) ever been convicted of a felony by the SEC, a state or federal agency or court or agreed to a sanction or penalty? If yes, please explain.

5.2.10. For the professionals highlighted in 5.2.4 above, please provide their specific qualifications for this particular contract. How many other accounts are serviced by this person and what are the types & sizes of other clients? Please list the accounts for this person, including type of client and AUM for the client.

5.2.11. What is the client/consultant ratio for the firm?

5.2.12. What are the procedures for addressing PBGC issues when the Primary Consultant(s) or other assigned personnel are traveling or unavailable?

5.2.13. Please describe your firm’s back-up procedures in the event the key personnel assigned to the PBGC account should leave the firm. If applicable, give an example of a situation where this procedure has been utilized.

5.2.14. Do you have any experience providing on-site full-time consulting associate(s) / analyst(s) to clients? Are you willing/able to provide long-term on-site staff to clients? How would you propose staffing a full-time on-site consulting associate(s) / analyst(s)?

5.2.15. List the persons responsible for research and provide detailed bios.

5.2.16. Please list your actuaries on staff and provide detailed biographies. How do the actuaries and the consultants interact?

5.3. Growth and Stability

5.3.1. Please list the following data as of the last calendar year-end for each of the past ten years:

5.3.1.1. Total number of consulting client relationships.

5.3.1.2. Total dollars of consulting client assets.

5.3.1.3. Number and assets of insurance company consulting clients.

5.3.1.4. Number and assets of public fund consulting clients.

5.3.1.5. Number and assets of corporate consulting clients.

5.3.1.6. Number and assets of endowment/foundation consulting clients.

5.3.1.7. Number and assets of other consulting clients if applicable.

5.3.1.8. Number, names, types and asset size of clients gained over the past three years.

5.3.1.9. Number, names, types and asset size of clients lost over the past three years, with reasons for termination or non-renewal.

5.3.2. Provide in the format below a distribution of clients by asset size (as of 12/31/15):

(Millions)

Other

< $250

$251-$1,000

$1,001-$5,000

$5,001-$10,000

$10,001-$50,000

>$50,000

5.3.3. Provide in the format below a distribution of client tenure with your firm (as of 12/31/15):

0-1

1-3

3-5

5-10

Over 10

5.3.4. Provide a current list of your 10 largest clients. Please provide the average five year asset mix of the client, percent of the fund for which you provided consulting services, and the five year annualized total return of the client’s investment portfolio and the client’s benchmark. If your client base is heavily weighted to any particular type of investor, identify this type and explain the reason(s) for such emphasis.

5.3.5. Provide a current list of all your full service insurance general account clients. Please also provide the average five year asset mix of the client, percent of the fund for which you provided consulting services, and the five year annualized total return of the client’s investment portfolio and the client’s investment benchmark.

5.3.6. Please summarize the financial condition of the firm and provide audited annual financial statements. Please provide a statement concerning any material changes in financial condition subsequent to the most recent financial statement.

5.3.7. Please discuss the overall business objectives of your firm with respect to future growth. Comment on any present or planned areas of emphasis over the near future. Be sure to include in your response:

5.3.7.1. Plans for the creation of any new products or services;

5.3.7.2. Whether or not there is a limit to the number of clients that would be accepted in any of your lines of business.

5.3.7.3. Plans to add staff and approximate timing in relation to growth of clients or services.