Employees Retirement System of Texas Request for Qualifications to Provide Public Equity Investment Advisory Services RFQ No. 26-15426-001

The Employees Retirement System of Texas is requesting qualifications from public equity investment advisory firms under RFQ No. 26-15426-001, with firm and strategy data submissions due to eVestment by August 11, 2026. The procurement is restricted to firms with existing strategies registered in eVestment; respondents must submit detailed qualifications in an initial phase to be screened for invitation to formal response.

Minimum qualifications require SEC registration as an investment adviser, demonstrated experience managing public equity portfolios of comparable size and complexity, compliance with applicable securities laws and regulations, and clean regulatory and litigation history. Firms must identify key investment and operational personnel and provide verifiable references from current and former clients managing similar mandates. The General Information and Minimum Qualifications Questionnaire, Legal Requirements and Regulatory Compliance Questionnaire, and eVestment-based strategy data serve as screening mechanisms to ensure only qualified fiduciaries advance to evaluation.

The engagement targets active, long-only global equity strategies using core, GARP, or relative value approaches with preferred benchmarks including MSCI World and MSCI ACWI. Evaluation criteria include tracking error (2–10 percent range), active share, information ratio, batting average, drawdown, market capture metrics, and portfolio fit capability including ability to exclude Countries of Concern and correlation alignment with the ERS Public Equity Portfolio. Respondents must reference eVestment data parameters and demonstrate firm assets under management, ownership structure, management team composition, investment style, inception date, and number of holdings.

Bank of New York Mellon serves as custodian. The investment manager must maintain SEC registration, comply with all applicable federal and state laws including Texas statutes, and uphold fiduciary duties. Compensation is tiered based on assets under management, calculated monthly and billed quarterly in arrears. The manager must provide monthly performance reporting, quarterly strategy discussions, daily trade communication by 6:15 p.m. Central Standard Time, and monthly position reconciliations. ERS reserves the right to terminate immediately for breach or performance failure, or at any time with five business days' notice. Contract terms and renewal provisions are subject to negotiation. Governance is under Texas law with exclusive jurisdiction in Austin, Travis County.