Section 1650.3040  Consultant Searches

a)         In accordance with Section 1-113.14(d) of the Illinois Pension Code, investment consultants may serve for a maximum five-year term.  Any incumbent consultant is eligible to submit a proposal for the new engagement.

b)         Staff may initiate a search to provide general or specialty investment consulting services to the System through a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

c)         Following initiation of a search, staff prepares an RFP containing the following information:

1)         The type of services required;

2)         An estimate of when and for how long the services will be required;

3)         The contract to be used;

4)         The date and time by which proposals must be submitted; and

5)         A statement of the information the proposal must contain.

d)         The RFP is posted on the TRS website (https://www.trsil.org) to allow any interested candidate to review the search criteria.  The RFP notice posted on the TRS website summarizes the services sought, tells how and where to submit proposals, specifies the deadline for submitting proposals, and tells when and where proposals will be publicly opened and how to obtain paper copies of the RFP.

e)         Proposals submitted in response to an RFP must comply with all requirements set forth in the RFP and submitted within the time frame specified in the RFP.  Proposals are date and time stamped upon receipt.  Proposals that arrive late for any reason will not be considered.

f)         Proposals are publicly opened at the date and time specified on the TRS website.  Staff reviews all proposals timely received to ensure all required information is included.  Proposal information is publicly available following execution of a contract with the successful firm.

g)         Staff identifies and ranks all proposals meeting all minimum qualifications specified in the RFP to identify semi-finalist firms.

h)         Staff conducts in-person interviews of semi-finalist firms at the System's offices or alternate location agreed upon by the System and the firm.

i)          Following favorable results of the in-person interviews, staff identifies finalist firms for formal due diligence meetings, typically at the candidate firms' offices.

j)          After due diligence is completed, staff initiates fee and contract negotiations with finalist firms.  All contracts and related documentation relative to hiring a consultant must be negotiated in final form prior to Investment Committee consideration.  Contracts for consultant services may not exceed five years in duration.

k)         Any finalist firm that successfully passes due diligence review and fee and contract negotiations is presented to the Investment Committee for consideration.

(Source:  Amended at 42 Ill. Reg. 13666, effective June 29, 2018)