RFQ - Financial Consultant - 10-29-2024.pdf

ATTN: Kurt Aarrestad Phone: 971-446-8235 Dept of State Lands 775 Summer St NE Suite 100 Salem, OR 97301

REQUEST FOR QUOTE

Return Quote To:

Kurt Aarrestad, Contract Officer kurt.aarrestad@dsl.oregon.gov

Date:

No later than Thursday, November 14, 2024, by 2pm PST.

Description:

The Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL / agency) is looking for a consultant with expertise to analyze and extrapolate information from DSL’s investment bank statements, financial data, prior audit reports, and other financial information. We are looking for a consultant to provide financial reporting guidance and develop financial reporting tools to enable the agency to more accurately and improve timeliness in reporting financial information.

Requested Availability:

Upon Executed Contract

Contact for project:

Joe Flager - joe.flager@dsl.oregon.gov

Vendor Name: ________________________________Federal ID No: _____________________

Address: ______________________________________ Phone: _________________________

City, State, Zip: ____________________________________ Fax: ________________________

All Pricing Must Be Held Firm For 30 Days

Financial Consultant Scope of Work:

Analyze and Reconcile the Common School Fund investments and Cash Accounts

Background

The Department of State Lands (DSL) was established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859. DSL is the administrative arm of the Land Board, which consists of the Governor, Secretary of State, and Treasurer. DSL carries out day-to-day work of managing the school lands and resources that contribute revenue to the Common School Fund. The Common School Fund consists of a $2.4 billion portfolio of investments managed by the Oregon State Treasury. DSL’s mission is to ensure Oregon’s school land legacy and protect waterways and wetlands of the State through superior stewardship and service.

There are multiple programs that contribute to the Common School Fund. These programs are divided into either constitutional programs or statutory programs, depending on how the program became part of the agency. There are separate restrictions on uses of funds depending on the program. These programs consist of primarily of Unclaimed Property, the Real Property program, and the Aquatic Resource Management program.

mailto:kurt.aarrestad@dsl.oregon.gov

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF STATE LANDS | 775 SUMMER ST. NE SALEM, OR 97301 | WWW.OREGON.GOV/DSL

On July 1, 2021, the Common School Fund was unitized in different investment pools when the Unclaimed Property program transitioned from DSL to the Oregon State Treasury. The investment portfolio is currently being categorized by the balance of the unclaimed property deposits, corpus (deposits into the Common School Fund), and unrealized gains/losses. Through conversations between interested parties, it was determined that there is a need for the current corpus to be separated out into principal value and net investment earnings.

Also on July 1, 2021, the cash account for Common School Fund operations was pulled out of the Common School Fund investment fund. DSL is currently in the process of setting up an additional bank account that will aid in future operations.

Purpose

The Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL / agency) is looking for a consultant with expertise to analyze and extrapolate information from DSL’s investment bank statements, financial data, prior audit reports, and other financial information. We are looking for a consultant to provide financial reporting guidance and develop financial reporting tools to enable the agency to more accurately and improve timeliness in reporting financial information.

Project Details

DSL will supply the consultant with the available historical information. This includes investment portfolio bank statements, financial data, an audit report on the Common School Fund conducted in 2012, and other information. The consultant will need to analyze the information and provide the requested services below.

Services Needed

Classify the Common School Investments into the following categories:

• Unclaimed Property

• Corpus (both constitutional and statutory)

• Net investment earnings (both constitutional and statutory)

• Unrealized gain/losses

The consultant will need to provide a report on the process to determine the balances, an excel file template to track the balances going forward, and procedures to accompany the excel file.

Analyze the cash fund balances of the Common School Fund and determine suitable cash balances for the statutory and constitutional programs.

Schedule

Deadline - March 31, 2025: The analysis will need to be completed by to March 31, 2025 to give current staff ample time to make the adjustments, set up new processes, and set up new accounting structure by June 30, 2025.