Request For Information
Pension Recordkeeping System
#MMDD0-080712-005i
Diane L. Diotte, C.P.M.
UCOP Principal Buyer & Supervisor
UC Office of the President
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
PURPOSE OF RFI 6
OBJECTIVES OF RFI 6
PROJECT OVERVIEW 7
RFI Process 7
RFI Timeline 7
RFI Response Submission 8
RFI Contact Information 8
Bidder Contact Information 8
Vendor Profile 9
Prospective UCRS Pension Administration Recordkeeping System Solutions 9
REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC PENSION ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM 10
MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS 10
COMMON REQUIREMENTS 10
TECHNOLOGY AND STANDARDS 13
Introduction
The University of California Office of the President (UCOP) Human Resources Benefits Information Systems (BIS) and the Retirement Administration Service Center (RASC) are initiating a formal process to identify a technology solution to replace the existing University of California Retirement System (UCRS) pension administration system. BIS and RASC are looking for a technical solution vendor that has a proven history of successful public pension administration system implementations and that exhibits the required expertise and experience needed to complete the replacement of the existing UCRS pension administration system by providing a seamless replacement and modernization of RASC’S primary line of business on time and within budget.
As part of the procurement process, we are soliciting your organization’s interest in responding to a potential Request for Proposal (RFP) which may be distributed at a later date, and information about the services it offers in support of the functionalities listed below.
1. Recordkeeping of membership in the pension system; approximately 118,000 active members.
o Records service credit, salary history, appointment type, and collective bargaining unit membership (with ability to historically capture multiple membership categories). Currently, each UC campus is considered to be a separate employer, so we receive feeds from each location. A project is underway to consolidate most locations into one payroll system (Oracle PeopleSoft); a new interface to UCRS planned to be in place by end of 2014 for active employees.
o Maintains record of UCRP contributions, interest, buybacks, and distributions with the ability to administer multiple contribution rates for divergent employee groups while simultaneously maintaining a history of contributions over the entire employment history at the individual employee level.
o Issues refunds and rollovers of UCRP balances in twice-monthly checkwrites
o Three current membership types: “regular” – coordinated w/Social Security, “regular” – not coordinated w/Social Security, Safety, and Tier II. An additional pension tier will be introduced in July 2013.
o Allows for flagging of data anomalies to create triggers for manual reviews
o Checks and tax statement (1099-R) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
2. University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) recordkeeping of monthly benefit income payments and lump sum payments to retirees, survivors and former spouses. Approximately 58,000 payments each month, with an approximate annual growth of 5%.
o Annual benefit Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) and occasional purchasing power ad hoc COLAs. COLA percentages vary depending on the benefit start date.
o Social Security supplement is paid to age 65 for those coordinated with Social Security
o Basis recovery
o Interface with UC’s general ledger (GL)
o Interface with Fidelity Investments
o Interface with UC’s Direct Deposit clearinghouse bank (Mellon)
o Checks, direct deposit statements (remittances) & tax statement (1099-R, 1042-S) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
o Issuance of hand-issued payments for check replacement, advance payment, off-cycle refund, late setup
3. Recordkeeping of Health &Welfare coverage for retirees
o Interfaces to health & welfare vendors, Thomson Reuters, CMS, etc.
o Integrated with pension payroll system (for a pension check net of retiree-paid health premiums) utilizing formulas including various employer contribution percentages
o Allow for direct pay, e.g., ACH, when pension payment is insufficient to cover premiums
o Recordkeeping of Medicare eligibility and compliance reporting
o Repository of health and welfare rates – historical and prospective
o Ability to enter future-dated transactions for pension check deduction
o Allows for retroactive adjustment of premium payments across calendar years
o Provides audit trail of transaction changes
o Recordkeeping and calculation of imputed income
o Interface with UC’s general ledger
o Check and tax statement (W-2) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
o Tax reporting for imputed income (W-2)
o Coverage is primarily for UCRP members but also for some UC retirees who are in CalPERS (their membership pre-dates UCRP). This interface goes both ways - enrollment info from CalPERS to UC and then premiums deductions from UC to CalPERS. (Other participating groups, e.g., OCERS, STRS are also eligible for health and welfare benefits while being enrolled in a non-UC retirement plan.) Premium reimbursement checks issued monthly.
4. 415(m) Restoration of Benefits Program – handling the payment of supplemental retirement income. Approximately 250 payments each month.
o Interface with UC’s general ledger
o Interface with Fidelity Investments
o Interface with UC’s Direct Deposit clearinghouse bank (Mellon).
o Checks, direct deposit statements (remittances) and tax statement (W-2) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
o Summary of manual calculations are entered into the system annually
5. PERS Plus 5 Plan – handling payment of Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program retirements with PERS memberships related to UC employment. Approximately 45 payments each month.
o Interface with UC’s general ledger
o Interface with Fidelity Investments
o Interface with UC’s Direct Deposit clearinghouse bank (Mellon)
o Checks, direct deposit statement (remittances) & tax statements (1099-R, 1042-S) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
6. Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP)— to record-keep a series of supplements provided to certain UC employees
o Allows for interest posting of earnings. There are two different CAP plans, each with a different interest rate.
o Issues refunds and rollovers of the CAP in twice-monthly checkwrites
o Interface with GL
o Interface with Fidelity Investments
o Checks and tax statement (1099-R) printing and mailing are outsourced to Wells Fargo Bank.
7. Administrative Applications and Workflows
o Buyback (calculate the cost of buying back previous service credit, leave periods, or eliminating a noncontributory period offset)
o Retirement Calculator Tool (prepare a retirement estimate and election)
o Death Notification (report a member death)
o Event Tracker (view member correspondence and transaction history)
o Historical 403(b) Contributions (recordkeeping tool for pre-July 2005 403(b) plan contribution details; in July 2005, this recordkeeping was moved to Fidelity Investments)
o Retirement processing workflow
o Disability processing workflow
o Survivor processing workflow
o Special claims (primarily QDRO) processing workflow
o Beneficiary (view current and past beneficiary designations)
8. Member Online Self-Service Applications
o Retirement Estimates (model projected pension benefit at ages 50-on-upward)
o Beneficiary Designation (view and change beneficiary designations as well as contact information).
o Change personal demographics (address, phone number, personal email address)
o UCRP and CAP Balances (view current UCRP employee accumulations and CAP accumulations)
o Benefit Income Statement (retirees & other benefit income recipients can view monthly payment details)
o Benefit Income & Distributions Tax Statements (benefit income & distributions recipients can view tax statements)
o Benefit Income Direct Deposit (benefit income recipients can elect Direct Deposit or change Direct Deposit bank information) –
o Benefit Income Tax Withholding (benefit income recipients can change tax withholding choices)
9. Other
o Data from the mainframe is used in datamarts supporting business intelligence analysis of UCRP benefit data and health & welfare data (note: not experience data)
o Annual data files to the actuaries are extracted from the benefit income payment, retiree health & welfare, and membership recordkeeping systems.
o Ability to communicate UCRP estimates to other vendors (i.e., in order to generate combined statement with other vendors for UC financial education efforts).
o Operational reports are generated (most are automated) from the benefit income payment, retiree health & welfare, and membership recordkeeping systems.
o Administrative self-service applications and workflows and employee self-service applications use imaging for workflows and confirmations
o Ability to search database based on member and/or adult dependent last name
o Ability to move funds from funds that were not distributed at the time of separation to Fidelity when inactive employees return to work.
o Interface with TALX, The Work Number, for benefit income verification
o Data is structured so that it can be used by Cognos analytics tool.
PURPOSE OF RFI
The purpose of this RFI is to present, in general, the requirements for replacement of the existing UCRS pension administration recordkeeping system.
This RFI is being distributed to:
1. Solicit technical information for possible options and product price ranges (for informational purposes only) from respondents who may be able to satisfy these requirements.
2. Provide BIS and RASC an opportunity to ask questions which will help them structure an eventual RFP
3. Provide the vendor community an opportunity to react and comment on discrete business, technical and administrative requirements which may become part of an RFP.
OBJECTIVES OF RFI
The results of this RFI will help determine the availability of vendor-supplied solutions and help assess the level of vendor interest in providing these solutions. Should responses to this RFI show sufficient availability of quality applications, the responses may be used to further support BIS and RASC’S existing business case for a budget request, and if approved, a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be distributed.
BIS and RASC are interested in the respondents’ cost factors (plus or minus) for the function/service/technology described within the RFI. The RASC desires to acquire the most useful cost information possible to support its decision-making concerning the replacement of its existing UCRS pension administration system. Respondents may provide comparative cost information or cost savings associated with their solution/application relative to similarly sized installations.
Further, BIS and RASC also are interested in respondents providing input to the possibilities for other technologies that are not requested in the RFI. This may include technology suggestions regarding ways to improve efficiency, add value, reduce costs, and enhance customer services.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Existing issues of technological limitations and deficiencies and escalating mainframe costs, and difficulties in accommodating the added complexity of pension reform form the basis of BIS and RASC’S need for a replacement UCRS pension administration recordkeeping system. BIS and RASC are looking either to select a Java-based application and self-host it, i.e., develop around an existing pension administration solution, or to opt into a vendor hosted SaaS solution.
The challenges currently facing BIS and RASC:
1. Inability to fully achieve RASC’S strategic goals related to the coming major pension changes due to outdated software and tools that are not nimble and are not sustainable.
2. Escalating limitation of current technology functionality; unable to provide or expand RASC service model easily using its current technology solution set.
3. Escalating infrastructure costs as other UC applications are migrating from the mainframe platform.
4. Challenging to find and staff technical resources for the mainframe platform and programming language such as COBOL.
5. Current workflows are not tightly integrated into mainframe system datamarts
6. It is very difficult for the RASC to extract actionable real time data from the current system.
RFI Process
In responding to this RFI, please provide only the information requested. Responses will be evaluated based on your ability to address and answer succinctly the questions presented. If it is necessary to provide additional information beyond what has been specifically requested, please include it as an attachment to your response.
§ Organizations intending to respond to the RFI must acknowledge receipt of the RFI by August 17, 2012. Questions related to the RFI must be submitted to the RFI Administrator () by this date as well.
RFI Timeline
All RFI responses must be received by 12:00 p.m. (PDT) on September 21, 2012. The University reserves the right to reject any responses received after the due date and time.
Below is the overall timeline:
Activities / Date /RFI is issued to vendors / 08/09/12
Vendors acknowledge the RFI and submit questions / 08/31/12
RFI responses due from vendors / 09/21/12, 12:00 p.m.
RFI Response Submission
We require a uniform format be used for RFI responses. Responses not adhering to the format standards outlined below may be disqualified from consideration.
In cases where an item requested does not apply, or if unable to respond, reference the number and indicate the reason for no response.
Response must consist of ONLY the answers to the questions or information requests set forth in the RFI. If it is necessary to include additional information, please provide the information as a separate attachment. Please mark and label the attachment clearly (e.g., For additional information see Attachment X).
You must submit your response electronically in MS Word file format.
RFI Contact Information
Inquiries and responses concerning this RFI should be addressed to:
Diane L. Diotte, C.P.M.
UCOP/UCLA Principal Buyer
510-987-0565
Bidder Contact Information
Primary ContactCompany
Name / Title
Address / Telephone
E-mail / Fax
Alternate Contact
Company
Name / Title
Address / Telephone
E-mail / Fax
Vendor Profile
1. Provide detailed information about your organization as well as business and financial status.
2. Provide a complete list of customers who have purchased, leased, subscribed to or otherwise acquired the services proposed, including the following elements for each one of them:
a. Customer name.
b. Contact information.
c. Status, e.g., in negotiation, implementing, in full operation.
d. Profile of service provided.
e. Service model (e.g. partnership, revenue share, fee for service, etc).
f. Provide information about the scale of the service including approximate volume of each implementation site.
Prospective UCRS Pension Administration Recordkeeping System Solutions
RASC is seeking to understand the following aspects of available vendor line of business solutions, and/or services, and software vendor preferred methods/approaches:
a. How does the vendor solution address the existing UCRS functions listed in items #1-9, above? Are these functions delivered in the tool or would they require customization?