Investment Consultant Services

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) in Texas is soliciting proposals for discretionary investment consultant services to manage the District's Employee Retirement Plan and Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust through a Request for Proposal process. The primary deliverables and services required include investment policy development and implementation, asset allocation studies, investment manager selection and oversight, performance monitoring and reporting, portfolio rebalancing, fiduciary guidance, and quarterly attendance at Retirement Plan Committee meetings. Qualified proposers must possess a minimum of five years of experience providing investment advisory services to public employee retirement systems and current registration under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The evaluation criteria include organizational culture and unique value proposition, fiduciary status and regulatory compliance, quality assurance programs, onboarding and transition plans, expertise in investment strategy development, asset allocation modeling, portfolio risk management, investment manager selection and monitoring, governance document development, benchmark selection, rebalancing recommendations, and composite client returns for comparable services across 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods. A pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for April 29, 2026, at 1:00 PM Central, with a question deadline of May 1, 2026. Proposals are due May 21, 2026, at 2:00 PM Central via electronic submission through ntmwd.bonfirehub.com or physical delivery to the NTMWD Procurement Department in Wylie, Texas, with contract execution anticipated for mid-to-late July 2026.

The solicitation documents do not specify set-aside designations or restrictions limiting response eligibility to particular organization types or disadvantaged enterprises. The District currently contracts with two investment management firms utilizing various mutual funds and pays monthly benefits to retirees through Aetna, indicating that proposers must be prepared to coordinate with existing service providers and infrastructure. As of December 31, 2025, the Retirement Plan holds approximately $180 million in assets and the OPEB Trust holds $14 million, with the District's actuaries assuming a 7.25% rate of return on these assets. The initial contract term is five years with automatic renewal for five additional one-year periods unless either party provides written notice of termination at least 60 days prior to expiration, with a maximum total term of 10 years. Pricing shall remain firm for the initial five-year contract period, with price adjustments subject to contract provisions in subsequent renewal periods; proposers must submit detailed cost breakdowns and fee schedules on an annual basis for both the base term and each renewal term, including all travel and incidental expenses in the contract amount. Prior to contract execution, proposers must obtain Professional Liability Insurance of $1,000,000 minimum and Commercial General Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence with $2,000,000 aggregate along with other required coverage.