Description
The purpose of this amendment is to extend the submission date of market research material, provide answers to the questions submitted, and amend two service areas. The submission date for all market research materials has been changed from: 2:00 PM (EST) January 11, 2008 to: 2:00 PM (EST) January 18, 2008. Any submissions received prior to this amendment will be retained unless return is requested. The following answers are provided to the questions received prior to January 3, 2008: Question 1: What are the main reasons for conducting a provider search? Answer: As part of a due diligence review of plan administration and fees OTS is conducting the market research to insure that they are receiving the most favorable fees for administration of their plan. Question 2: Please define ?Best Value Methodology?. Answer: Best Value means the expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Government?s estimation, provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement. Question 3: What do you mean by ?Development? under the Client Services section titled ?Development, implementation and operation of a paperless participant transactions system??? Answer: OTS wants the company to provide demonstrated experience in the development, implementation and operation of a paperless participant transaction system. The company should have participated in the development of the paperless system, part of their integrated package. Question 4: Is there any aspect of plan administration and management that OTS would like to maintain in a non-paperless form? Answer: Yes Question 5: Is the incumbent record keeper (Pentegra) precluded from participating in any future RFP that may be issued? Answer: No Question 6: What are the education goals for OTS? Answer: The education goals are vendor outreach to familiarize new enrollees to the risks associated with portfolio funds offered, identify areas where plan doesn?t measure up to benchmark of plans for size. Question 7: Is OTS seeking a financial advisor or is there interest in an electronic advisory service? Can you provide more specific detailed information? Answer: OTS is not seeking a financial advisor. OTS may decide as a result of this market research that we desire electronic advisory services and, if so, will include the requirement in the RFP. Question 8: What is the definition of a ?fully-integrated? record keeping platform? Answer: OTS is defining ?fully integrated? record keeping platform to include recordkeeping, administration, trustee services and service technology (web site, voice response and call center). Question 9: Does OTS have any interest in expanding the current Index Fund platform or adding actively managed mutual funds? Answer: Yes, OTS is interested in expanding its portfolio to include actively managed funds at this time. Question 10: Are there any other registrations, documents or other requirements that our company needs to submit or meet along with our technical information submission? Answer: No, not at this time. If OTS decides to go forward with a Request for Proposal (RFP) and such information is required, the requirements will be clearly spelled out in the RFP. Question 11: Could you please provide information on the types of participant communications that have worked well/not worked well in the past (e.g., electronic, face-to-face, and written)? Answer: OTS will not provide types of participant communications that have worked well/not worked well in the past (e.g., face to face, and written) at this time. If an RFP is issued, and OTS determines this information would be beneficial to all offerors, the information will be included in the RFP. Question 12: What are your current communications goals and objectives (e.g., improving participant investment knowledge, increasing participant contributions, increasing participant level diversification)? Answer: See question and answer #6. Question 13: During the RFI/RFQ stage, we only received asset classes for the various investment options. Could you please provide additional information such as current expense ratios and ticker symbols for the plan's investments? Answer: No Question 14: Language in the solicitation states "Financial Advisors are not eligible to participate in this market research". Is it possible that in a follow-on, or related solicitation, Financial Advisors would be eligible to participate? And additionally, to your knowledge, has the Dept. of Treasury had many solicitation requests wherein Financial Advisors were eligible to participate? Answer: OTS does not anticipate a follow-on or related solicitation for the services of a Financial Advisor. OTS is not aware of any Department of Treasury solicitation requests that have allowed Financial Advisors to participate. Question 14a: I am seeking clarification for I am a Financial Advisor with experience and training and would be interested in contracting my skills; with my current employer's authorization, for the requirements of solicitations eligible to Financial Advisors. Other FedBizOpps contract solicitations seek Financial Advisors for their expertise, training, and certification; I am trying to understand if this is the case with perhaps other Treasury solicitations. Answer: OTS does not have any knowledge of other Treasury solicitations. Question 15: Is the procurement process for this bid subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)? Answer: Yes Question 16: Is the selected vendor required to meet Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) or Affirmative Action standards? Answer: Any resultant RFP will include the following clauses: FAR 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity; FAR 52.221-21-Prohibitin of Segregated Facilites; 52.222-22 Previous Contracts and Compliance Reports, 52.222-24, Preaward On-Site Equal Opportunity Compliance Evaluations, and 52.222-25, Affirmative Action Compliance. Question 17: Does the Office of the Thrift Supervisions have any required contract elements or language that we should be aware of? Answer: The RFP, if issued, will contain all contract elements and specific language. Question 18: Are there any unique plan provisions or services required in administering the plan? Answer: No Question 19: Would it be possible to provide a copy of the plan document and SPDs? Answer: The plan document will be provided in the RFP if issued. A draft copy of the SPD is provided as attachment. Question 20: What is the annual net cash flow in to the plan? Answer: The annual net case flow for 2007 was $4.3M. Question 21: Is OTS researching the market regarding plan administrative services only, or are the Plan?s investments also under consideration? Answer: OTS is researching the market for both plan administrative services and investment line up. Question 22: Please provide more information on the after-tax savings account mentioned in the Description. Answer: The after tax savings account is an account that employees can save on a post tax basis and interest accrues tax free until the time of withdrawal. Question 23: Is there an employer matching contribution? Answer: Yes. Question 24: Please confirm whether the OTS Plan is exempt from ERISA. Answer: No, it is not. Question 25: Does OTS offer any other defined contribution or defined benefit plans to its employees? Answer: Yes, OTS offers the government wide Thrift Savings Plan, as well as the government defined benefits plans and a private defined benefit plan to a select group of employees. Question 26: Are all employees located in the D.C. area, or are employees based in other locations? Answer: OTS employees are based in DC as well as five regional locations. Question 27: Does the OTS plan currently have a Roth 401(k), or is this feature under consideration? Answer: OTS adopted the Roth 401(k) under its current provider in 2007. Question 28: Please describe the current level of on-site education. Answer: Information is provided to participants via the provider?s website and the incumbent will come to an OTS site as required. Question 29: What is the anticipated timeline for review and results of the market research, and any subsequent action (e.g. RFP)? Answer: If an RFP is issued, we anticipate the RFP release sometime during the first quarter of 2008. The text of the synopsis shall be changed as follows: REMOVE: Current portfolio has no less than 20 plans with a minimum of $250 million in assets. REPLACE WITH: Current portfolio has no less than 20 plans with a minimum of $250M each in assets or multiple employer plans with cumulative assets of $3 B. REMOVE: Cumulative plans providing asset record keeping services greater than $20 Billion REPLACE WITH: Cumulative plans providing asset record keeping services greater than $4.5B.