Financial Audit of Public Employees Retirement System (PERS)

The State of Oregon's Secretary of State Audits Division is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP S-16500-00015472) seeking qualified audit firms to provide annual financial audit services for the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). The procurement encompasses comprehensive financial audits of PERS financial statements, pension employer schedules, and OPEB employer schedules conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards, with the initial audit covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, and all work to be completed by December 10, 2026. Qualified proposers must demonstrate minimum credentials including five years of public accounting experience with at least one engagement auditing a pension plan with assets of at least $3 billion, current clients of similar size performing comparable audit services, a firm peer review report with no "fail" rating, and registration in good standing with the Oregon Board of Accountancy; the engagement partner must hold a CPA license, possess at least ten years of public accounting experience, and have served as engagement partner on two audits of pension plans exceeding $3 billion in assets. Proposals are limited to 20 pages and must address firm qualifications, key personnel qualifications and experience, 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 and experience (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) for a total of 100 points. Critical dates include a pre-proposal conference on February 10, 2026 at 2:00 PM PT, questions and clarification requests due by February 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT, proposal submission deadline of March 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT through OregonBuys, evaluation period running March 19 through April 2, 2026, and Notice of Intent to Award expected April 2, 2026.

The RFP does not specify designated set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises or restrictions limiting responses to particular organization types; however, all proposers must complete comprehensive statutory and compliance certifications covering tax compliance, non-discrimination, sexual harassment and discrimination prevention policies, wage and hour compliance, and verification of absence from federal exclusion lists. Proposers must submit detailed cost proposals using the prescribed Cost Proposal template (Attachment E) specifying total annual audit costs for each year of the five-year base contract period, along with hourly rates and estimated hours by position for project managers and key team members. The contract will be structured as a master agreement with individual Work Order Contracts issued for each audit year, with an initial five-year term and options to renew up to a cumulative maximum of eight years, making this potentially an eight-year engagement. The contractor must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including 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). No specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the procurement documents, with pricing to be competitively evaluated based on proposer submissions and the established evaluation criteria.