Investment Advisory Services

The Vendor is required to provide investments advisory and investment structure, including the following for each plan:
• The individual investment offerings to be made available to participants (e.g., the number of individual offerings and the asset classes of those offerings);
• The selection and monitoring of individual investment offerings, as well as any investment vehicle or manager which might be utilized in a target date strategy, including replacement searches;
• Recommendation and evaluation regarding appropriate default investment alternative for the plans;
• Establishing appropriate peer group and index benchmarks for each investment vehicle or manager, and each target date model or fund created by the committee for inclusion in the plans;
• Implementation and exit strategies for an investment vehicle, or for a current or new customized target date fund strategy;
• Reviewing participant investment-related disclosures;
• Recommendations regarding new asset classes, investment strategies or funds which may be appropriate for a plan the size of the plans, with the objective of being on the leading edge of best practices for performance, fees and participants’ current and future retirement needs;
• Performance review of other investment consultants with respect to the plans or the provider of trustee or custodial services with respect to the plans, and replacement searches for such providers;
• Assisting in contract negotiation with any investment provider;
• Investment policy statements;
• Fee benchmarking of investment providers and trustee/record-keeper services;
• Evaluate any managed account services, if added to the plans, and underlying processes and objectives of the manager;
• In the event the plans offer a brokerage window, assist in structuring the brokerage window;
• New investment products as they are made available for qualified retirement plans;
• Insurance products, insurer ratings and other factors relevant to any insurance product and the insurer whose product may be utilized within the plans;
• Summary of recent market events and macroeconomic analysis;
• Assist in summarizing meeting minutes, if requested by the committee;
• Periodic reporting to the committee, as requested, regarding plan investments;
• Updates in recent changes in the law as well as upcoming and potential changes in the law; and
• Attend four quarterly meetings a year, at least one of which may be in person at university if requested by the committee.