RFI PWS Form 5500 Data Subscription and Analyst Support.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS) Form 5500 Data Subscription and Analyst Support Background:

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is committed to educating and assisting Americans covered by private retirement plans, health plans, and other welfare benefit plans, as well as plan sponsors and members of the employee benefits community. EBSA balances proactive enforcement with compliance assistance and works diligently to provide quality assistance to plan participants and beneficiaries. The Form 5500 Series was developed to allow employee benefit plans a uniform set of documents to submit to satisfy annual reporting requirements under Title I and Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and under the Internal Revenue Code. The Form 5500 Series is intended to assure that employee benefit plans are operated and managed in accordance with certain prescribed standards and that participants and beneficiaries, as well as regulators, are provided or have access to sufficient information to protect the rights and benefits of participants and beneficiaries under employee benefit plans.

Objectives:

To obtain access to Form 5500 data subscription and Analyst Support.

Scope:

The EBSA requires support for Form 5500 research, compliance assistance and enforcement tasks. The contractor shall provide a subscription for database access to edited Form 5500 data. This data will be mapped with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) data, investment performance and state insurance data.

Database services will be provided via subscription. The database must be available online, allowing EBSA employees to independently query data (employer sponsored benefit plans, financial advisors, other service providers, assets, geographical locations, and other general plan information). The following data elements must be available as part of the subscription:

· The Form 5500 adviser name data must be edited to organize different naming conventions for the same company into one specific adviser or company name.

· Firms listed on Form 5500 Schedules A and C need to be matched to registered investment advisers from the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD).

· With that mapping in place, obtain Form ADV firm data and individual representatives’ disclosure reports for the registered investment advisers.

· Aggregate FINRA data on those same firms and individuals.

· Information from state insurance departments for the same firms and individuals, to provide another useful source of disclosure information from the advisers.

· Provide one specific headquarter location for multi-location companies

· Spread of the assets into various geographic locations (such as three-digit zip code)

· Specific indicator for Taft-Hartley plans

· Audit level, trended fund data

Additionally, the contractor must provide at least 50 hours of specialized analyst support to prepare various data queries on Defined Contribution (DC) retirement plan data according to the needs of EBSA during the base period and in each option year, if exercised by the Government.

These analyses could include matching edited Form 5500 data with other data sets or non- matched variables of existing data structures.

A qualified contractor must already have the necessary data elements for the subscription in place at the start of the period of performance. The database will be available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week (except during agreed upon, or scheduled maintenance and update periods). The contractor will inform the government at least 24 hours prior to scheduled maintenance. In the event of system malfunction, the contractor will inform the government immediately and provide notification when the system is or will be available.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance shall be for one (1) 12-month base period and four (4) 12-month option period as follows:

Specific Tasks

5.1 Services:

The contractor shall provide a subscription containing specified data elements and the necessary maintenance throughout the contract period, training, and analysis. The contractor shall provide the following services and data elements. The data elements are required to be part of the subscription at the beginning of the period of performance.

EBSA requires data elements and specific tasks outlined below, as well as other pertinent information to be available to EBSA at the start of the contract. This subscription shall be fully functional and available throughout the entirety of the base contract period, and also for the entirety of any option years if exercised by EBSA.

5.1.1. Data Elements

A. Plan data shall contain no less than the following:

a. Plan data containing plan name, plan assets, active participants, number of investment options, advisor information, and region.

b. Other data about the funds held by the plan, including fund allocation data, ticker symbol, fund balance, fund type, adviser information, industry information, and recordkeeper information.

B. Adviser/consultant and recordkeeper data shall contain no less than the following:

a. Distribution data containing total DC distribution, plan count, average plan size, distribution by plan size (assets/participants), geographic breakdown (plan map), and industry breakdown.

b. Fund data containing fund name, manager information, asset class, plan count, and total asset data.

c. Linkages of investment advisors between Form 5500 and Form ADV.

d. Asset manager data shall contain no less than the following:

i. Distribution data containing total DC distribution, contractor rankings and awards, top funds data, geographic breakdown (plan map), distribution by plan size data, general plan data, menu capture data, and investment vehicle data.

ii. Funds data containing fund names, distribution amounts, plan counts, total assets, average number of participants, average plan assets, menu capture data, and average plan holding data.

iii. Territory map containing color coded US map and territory breakdown by salesperson.

C. Advisor regulatory filing information shall contain no less than the following:

a. Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) and Broker-Dealers (BDs) data containing primary name, alias name, IARD/Central Registration Depository (CRD) number, SEC file number, addresses, phone numbers, website addresses, assets under management, fee arrangements, client types, Affiliated Investment Adviser Representatives or Affiliated Registered Representatives, state registrations, advisory activities, other business activities, Financial Industry affiliations and private fund reporting, Participation, or Interest in Client Transactions, custody information, Control Persons data, and disclosure information.

b. Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs) and Registered Representatives (RRs) Data containing full name, CRD number, address, phone number, assets under management, email address, current firm registration, registration and employment history, state registrations, industry exams passed, affiliation data, and customer disputes, Disciplinary and Regulatory Events data.

D. Fund distribution data shall contain no less than the following:

a. General data containing total DC distribution (includes share of total fund assets in DC plans and category averages), Contractor Distribution Rankings and Awards data, Consultants and Advisors data, recordkeeper distribution data, geographic breakdown, distribution by plan size, industry distribution data, investment vehicle breakdown data (such as value of assets held by investment vehicle type), number of plans, average plan size, average plan holding, asset class information, total menu information, and fees and revenue sharing data.

b. Consultants’ and Advisers’ names, total compensation, and assets.

c. Recordkeepers’ names, total assets, distribution shares, and plan count information.

E. Data search functionality shall include:

a. Funds search criteria by distribution, performance, fees, geography, and other pertinent information.

b. Asset managers search criteria by distribution, geography, and other pertinent information.

c. Plans search criteria by plan ratings, company information, financial data, investment menu, participant data, and service provider information.

d. Service provider search criteria by distribution, investment menu, service provider information, and other pertinent information.

F. Miscellaneous EBSA- specific needs:

a. One specific headquarter location for multi-location companies.

b. Spread of the assets into various specific geographic locations.

c. Specific indicator for Taft-Hartley plans.

d. EBSA regional indicators.

e. Quarterly data feeds, including having the majority of data elements available through web access.

Note: The plan data should cover a significant portion of the ERISA plans filing Form 5500s, at least data on 30,000 to 40,000 employee benefit plan Form 5500 filings. Mapping financial information through IARD/CRD numbers should be available for at least 9, 000 entities.

5.1.1.2 Additional Services and Data Elements

A. Welfare Plan Information

a. Fees associated with health and welfare plans

b. Information on service providers (such as brokers and carriers) associated with welfare plans

c. Data on the number of participants, premiums, and plan funding B. Supplemental Financial Data

a. Integrating data from outside financial datasets (such as Preqin, Morningstar, Lipper, etc.) in order to enhance reporting on assets and holdings listed in Form 5500 filings.

b. Information on hedge funds, private equity, and other alternative assets.

c. Data on Master Trust investment Accounts.

5. 1. 2 Tasks

Task 1: Initial Project Meeting

Within 10 calendar days after award, the contractor shall meet, either in person or virtually, with the EBSA Subject Matter Expert (SME), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), the Office of Enforcement contact, and all other relevant EBSA and Contractor staff to clarify the project objectives, scope of work, deliverables, requirements, and any questions the contractor may have regarding the project. The contractor shall be prepared to discuss any issues pertinent to this project. During the meeting, communication procedures will be outlined as agreed upon by both parties. OPR will present all initial specific analyst queries, analysis of data, and/or enhancements to the subscription and web applications as well as any planned future analysis to the extent possible at the initial project meeting. Within 10 calendar days following the initial meeting, the contractor shall submit a memorandum summarizing the meeting and any conclusions or decisions that resulted.

Task 2: Provide EBSA users with subscription access

The contractor shall provide all EBSA staff with access to the database or web platform within five calendar days after the contract award. The contractor will provide instructions for accessing the database to troubleshoot registration and access issues and maintain a list of all users who have access. The Contractor will ensure that EBSA is able to independently access subscription services and query data on-demand.

Task 3: Provide Access for Five “Super-Users”

The contractor will provide at least five employees who will be designated “super-users” to information in the database. The super-users will be responsible for compiling all non-technical support questions to the contractor and will serve as facilitators between all EBSA standard users and the contractor. In rare cases when the non-technical support issue is critical, and time sensitive and “super-users” aren’t available, the standard users will contact the contractor for technical support. The contractor will provide an initial list of super-users within 5 calendar days of contract award, and an updated list quarterly.

Task 4: Provide Access to 35 Standard Users

Thirty-five users will have direct access to the subscription. However, these users may not contact the contractor directly. When questions arise, the standard users will direct questions to the “super-users”. However, in rare cases when the non- technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated support staff. Contractor will provide an initial list of users within five calendar days of contract award, and an updated list quarterly.

Task 5: Training

The contractor shall provide initial training and demonstration of the subscription web application to both “super-users” and standard users of the subscription, and also semiannual training thereafter. Training dates will be established within 10 calendar days after the contractor award. Due to the number of participants, there may need to be two separate training events. The training may be in-person or web-based. Follow-up questions (except those related to technical support) after the training will be directed to the “super- users”, who will communicate with the contractor. However, in rare cases when the non- technical support issue is critical and time sensitive and “super-users” unavailable, the standard users will be permitted to contact the designated support staff.

Task 6: Technical Support

The contractor shall provide EBSA with technical assistance as needed upon the contract award. The contractor will provide technical support during business hours, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Technical support will include but is not limited to defect tracking, software diagnosis, virtual/telephone/email software problem analysis and resolution over Standard users shall be permitted to send technical support issues directly to the designated technical support staff.

Task 7: Updates to the Subscription

If the Contractor makes updates or additions to the underlying data upon which the subscription is based, then the Contractor shall also make the same updates and additions to the subscription. For example, if the Contractor were to incorporate newly filed Form 5500 data and include additional linking/matching data between service providers, then the Contractor shall also make the newly filed Form 5500 data and the additional linking/matching data between service providers available via the subscription.

Task 8: Provide Specific Custom Analyses

EBSA shall contact the contractor regarding specific custom queries that are not supported in the subscription or are otherwise not feasible for EBSA staff to create. These custom queries will be due as soon as reasonable after the request depending on data availability and complexity. If EBSA determines that the results are not satisfactory or that other variables are needed, the contractor shall modify the output to meet EBSA’s needs.

The contractor shall provide 50 hours of analyst support to run various data queries using the edited Form 5500 data and related other data. These analyses could include matching the edited Form 5500 data with other data sets or non-matched variables of existing data structures (e.g., Form ADV) or could include specialized regional distributions of service providers. Neither the time spent maintaining the subscription nor the time spent providing technical support to EBSA for the web application or direct database access shall be counted against these 50 hours of analyst support.

Task 9: Monthly Analyst Time Reports and Ongoing Communication

The contractor will prepare brief monthly reports to be conveyed to the EBSA SME and COR via e-mail, documenting the analyst support labor hours used during the month and the specific request or query accomplished using that time. The focus of the reports is on the use of the hours of analyst support discussed in Task 3. These monthly reports will detail the specific work done to accomplish tasks, problems encountered, work anticipated in the coming month (if known), the number of labor hours expended each month, and any budgetary or substantive issues requiring the SME’s action. The labor hours in the monthly progress reports will include analyst support labor hours used during the reporting period and to date, and the proportion of analyst support labor hours expended in relation to the total number of analyst support hours. In addition to these monthly written reports, the contractor is expected to communicate informally by phone and e-mail, with SME as needed.