PERS Financial Audit RFP Amendment 1.pdf

This is Amendment #1 to Request for Proposals (RFP S-16500-00015472) issued by the State of Oregon's Secretary of State Audits Division for financial audit services of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). The amendment addresses a specific question from the Q&A process regarding controls related to the accuracy and completeness of census data collected and forwarded to the actuary. The amendment provides Attachment A, which contains the response to this inquiry. The underlying RFP seeks comprehensive annual financial audit services for PERS, with the initial audit covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, and all work to be completed by December 10, 2026. The procurement timeline includes a pre-proposal conference on February 10, 2026, a questions and clarifications deadline of February 16, 2026, and a proposal submission deadline of March 16, 2026. The evaluation period runs March 19 through April 2, 2026, with a Notice of Intent to Award expected April 2, 2026. The contract will be structured as a master agreement with individual Work Order Contracts for each audit year, featuring an initial five-year base term with renewal options extending the potential engagement to eight years total.

Qualified proposers must demonstrate minimum credentials including five years of public accounting experience with at least one engagement auditing a pension plan with assets exceeding $3 billion, current comparable clients, and a firm peer review report with no "fail" rating. The engagement partner must hold a CPA license, possess at least ten years of public accounting experience, and have served as partner on two prior audits of pension plans exceeding $3 billion in assets. Proposals are limited to 20 pages and must address firm qualifications, key personnel, approach and management plan, staffing plan, work schedule, cost control measures, references, and cost methodology. Evaluation will be based on qualifications and experience (10 points), key personnel qualifications (25 points), approach and management plan (20 points), staffing plan (10 points), work plan and schedule (10 points), cost control (2.5 points), cost methodology (2.5 points), and cost proposal (20 points). All proposers must complete comprehensive statutory and compliance certifications covering tax compliance, non-discrimination, wage and hour compliance, and federal exclusion verification. The RFP specifies no designated set-asides and does not disclose a specific budget range or award value. Contractors must maintain commercial general liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), professional liability ($1,000,000 per claim/$2,000,000 aggregate), automobile liability ($1,000,000 combined single limit), and network security and privacy liability ($7,000,000 per claim or incident).