PERS RFP S 45900 00014078 Actuarial Services Q and A 07022025 Final.pdf

PER RFP S 45900-14078 Actuarial Services – Q&A

Oregon Public Employees Retirement System RFP S 45900-00014078 - Actuarial Services

Questions and Answers

1. What were the fees provided for these services over the last five years? Please provide the fees split between retainer and hourly projects.

PERS Response: For the past five full calendar years (2020-2024), PERS paid a total of $2,657,108 under the actuarial services contract. Of this total, $442,000 (16.7%) represented retainer fees and the remaining $2,214,308 represented hourly fees. This includes $1,850,500 (69.6%) in fixed fee charges and $363,808 (13.7%) for special projects.

2. Please provide a sample of work provided to an employer under RFP section 2.4.4., if available.

PERS Response: PERS does not have any samples prepared to share for this RFP. There may be records available through the Public Records Request process. The process for a PERS Public Records Request is located on the web at https://www.oregon.gov/pers/Pages/Records-Requests.aspx.

3. Please provide the actuarial fees for the past 5 years, broken down by Retainer Fees, Fixed Fees for actuarial services, and Fees for special actuarial services projects.

PERS Response: For the past five full calendar years (2020-2024), PERS paid a total of $2,657,108 under the actuarial services contract. Of this total, $442,000 (16.7%) represented retainer fees and the remaining $2,214,308 represented hourly fees.

This includes $1,850,500 (69.6%) in fixed fee charges and $363,808 (13.7%) for special projects.

4. The description of the process and timing for negotiating contractual provisions described in the RFP is unclear. Section 1.1 states “any exceptions to the terms and conditions must be identified in the proposal with proposed language changes and submitted by the proposal filing deadline”. The proposal filing deadline is July 24. Section 5.4.1, which relates to negotiation “after selection of a successful proposer”, states a “proposer must submit those exceptions to Agency during the questions / requests for clarification period set forth in Section 1.2”. The Section 1.2 period for questions / requests for clarification ends on June 24. The Notice of Intent to Award and thus the commencement of the 30-day contracting period specified in Section 5.4.1 will occur sometime after July 24. In combination, these RFP sections are in apparent conflict with each other. Can the Agency confirm that

a) proposed exceptions to contractual terms and conditions may be submitted with proposals though the July 24 filing deadline, consistent with Section 1.1; and b) good faith negotiation on final terms and conditions will take place over a 30-day period commencing sometime after July 24 once selection of an apparent successful proposer is made, consistent with Section 5.4.1? If the Agency cannot confirm both of those items, please indicate the process and timing to provide proposed exceptions considering the conflicting RFP guidance noted above.

PERS Response: PERS will be issuing an Addendum to the RFP in OregonBuys to modify the language so sections 1.1 and 5.4.1 are consistent.

5. In Section 5.4 Contract Negotiation and Attachment C item #1, the RFP states that by submitting a proposal the Proposer agrees to accept the terms and conditions from the sample contract except for those that were specifically reserved for negotiation. If there are sections of the sample contract where the Proposer would intend to suggest provision changes that may be more favorable to the Agency (e.g., a higher limitation of liability) and/or are consistent with provisions that have been acceptable to a State of Oregon agency under contract terms currently in effect, should discussion of those suggested provisions be reserved for the contract negotiation period described in Section 5.4.1, which occurs after identification of an apparent successful Proposer? Or would the Agency prefer to receive those proposed edits as a red-line mark-up with the original Proposal submitted by the July 24 proposal deadline?

PERS Response: PERS will be issuing an Addendum to the RFP in OregonBuys to modify the language in 5.4.1 to provide better clarification for negotiation of the Contract’s terms and conditions.

6. In Section 3.3.2 References, the process described would have the Proposer: a) provide the Attachment D form to their selected references, b) receive the completed forms back from the references, and c) then submit the completed forms with the proposal. We have two questions on this process: 1) Could the Agency provide a version of Exhibit D that is a fillable form rather than a PDF to better facilitate the response process for the references? 2) Can there be an option (or a modification to the mandated RFP process) for the selected references to email their completed reference forms directly back to the Agency’s Single Point of Contact? We think providing this option or making this modification would encourage candor from the references.

PERS Response: PERS will post Exhibit D References in word document format in the OregonBuys system as an attachment. PERS will not be modifying the process for submitting references as set forth in Section 3.3.2.

7. How many individual employer valuation reports were produced for the most recent valuation, and what is the page length range for typical individual employer reports?

PERS Response: For the most recent measurement date (12/31/2023), PERS received a total of 604 individual employer valuation reports, each between 14 and 27 pages in length.

In some cases, these individual employer reports included multiple entities aggregated for valuation purposes. We also received a system-wide valuation report 133 pages in length.

This report provides detailed calculation for the three rate pools associated with PERS:

SLGRP, School Districts, and OPSRP.

8. In Section 3.3 Proposal Content Requirements, and more specifically Organization 1. Organization and Background c. (page 10), OPERS requests a listing of all office locations and the number of professionals working in each office. Our firm is multinational and has thousands of employees across dozens of offices. Given that, would OPERS deem a listing of the total number of US offices and employees, the total number of non-US offices and employees, and a by-office employee count for the offices that would work directly with OPERS to be sufficiently responsive to the request?

PERS Response: PERS will accept the information proposed (total number of US offices and employees, total number of non-US offices and employees, and by office employee count for offices working directly with PERS) as a sufficient response to the listed question.

9. In Section 3.3 Proposal Content Requirements, and more specifically Organization 1. Organization and Background d. (page 11), OPERS requests a listing of the owners of the firm (from largest to smallest with respect to ownership) and their ownership percentages. Our firm is a fully employee-owned corporation with several hundred owners, none of whom owns more than 1% of company stock. Given that structure, would OPERS deem a descriptive summary of that structure plus a quantification of the number of current shareholders to be sufficiently responsive to the request?

PERS Response: PERS will accept the information proposed (descriptive summary of the employee-owned structure, count of current employee stockholders, and assurance that no individual so situated owns more than 1% of the firm) as a sufficient response to the listed question. If any individual (employee or otherwise) owns more than 1% of the firm, they should be separately listed in the response.

Oregon Public Employees Retirement System