Seattle, Austin Pension Funds Seek Investment Consultants

The Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System announced this week that it has issued a request for proposals for a new investment consultant for a five-year term. The $3.8 billion pension fund’s five-year contract with its current consultant will expire on June 30, 2024.

“The purpose of this solicitation is to solicit offers from interested and qualified Vendors for a non-discretionary general investment consultant (“consultant”) to serve the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System. The consultant shall provide independent, unbiased, and proactive investment counsel and serve as a fiduciary to SCERS with respect to its services,” the RFP states.

The pension fund has laid out a number of minimum qualifications in the RFP

The firm must be a registered investment advisor with the SEC;
The firm must have been in business for a minimum of five years;
The firm has had at least three U.S. defined benefit pension plan clients with at least $1 billion in assets as of June 30, 2023;
The consultant assigned to SCERS must have a minimum of five years of experience providing investment consulting services to public pension plans or other institutional clients; and
The firm must contractually agree to serve as a fiduciary with respect to its services.

According to SCERS timeline, a pre-proposal conference will take place on January 24. The deadline for questions is January 26. Final applications from potential investment consultants are due February 23. If conducted, interviews will take place May 30. An announcement of successful proposal will occur June 30, with the contract award and start date being June 30.

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“The city expects the consultant to support the careful planning and executing of the investment program to achieve SCERS’s mission to fulfill the promise made to our members by delivering the retirement benefits they have earned,” the RFP states.

The SCERS system provides a defined benefit pension plan for most employees of the city of Seattle and some employees of King County.

COAERS

The City of Austin Employees’ Retirement System also has issued a request for proposal in search of a new investment consultant. COARS is seeking a consultant for a three-year term, which may be renewed for an additional two years.

“COAERS is seeking the services of an investment consulting firm to provide independent, unbiased, proactive research, information, and advice to the Board and Staff in regard to the COAERS fund. The Board views the consultant as an independent extension of Staff, and the optimal working relationship is a collaborative one with Staff and the Consultant working together to implement policy,” the RFP states.

Proposals for potential applications for COAERS are due February 9. A committee finalist review will meet in May, and a final selection will occur in June, with the new consultant starting July 1.

COAERS provides retirement, disability, and death benefits for 10,000 city of Austin employees and 7,500 retirees. The fund had $3.0 billion in assets as of September 30, 2023.