DFS TR RFP 14/15-21

Addendum #1

RFP Section Referenced Text Questions ResponsesRequest for Proposal Section 1.2

Solicitation Objective

The TPA will make available to the 14 member BDC staff access

to the TPA system to enter PART enrollment and changes,

create rep[orts and view PART information and transaction

history.

Please define the PART enrollment and changes that will be entered by the

BDC staff. Will the BDC staff enter the demographic data, deferral

percentage or dollar amount , investment allocation selections as well as the

IP of choice for the PART on the TPA system?

There are times that our investment vendors are not able to enter

participant demographic information or enroll a new participant.

These occurrences are due to validation of eligible employees,

incorrect social security numbers, missing deadlines for payrolls or

not finding time to work rejections. In addition, the investment

vendors are not able to enter payroll center identification codes. The

investment vendors’ staff will send the Bureau of Deferred

Compensation (BDC) the participant paperwork for the BDC to enter

the participant information (excluding investment choices). In

addition, PARTs call the Bureau office to request changes and the BDC

staff makes those changes on the current TPA system. The BDC also

enters the EZ Enrollment forms that are completed on its website by

the PARTs.

Attachment G - Provider Contract

(Section 6.c.)

Data Protection. No State Data or information will be

transmitted to, stored in, processed in, or shipped to off-shore

locations or out of the United States of America regardless of

method, except as required by law. Examples of these methods

include (but are not limited to): SFTP transfer, DVD, tape, or

drive shipping; regardless of level of encryption employed

Could you please confirm that the “Data Protection” provision of the

contemplated contract would permit time-limited access by affiliated or

unaffiliated offshore resources for viewing of State Data in order to perform

system support, provided, of course, that those offshore resources otherwise

comply with the specified requirements?  If so, could the structure for that

limited offshore access be proposed and approved for a successful bidder

within the proposal and selection process?

Access to State Data allows for access to remote users that have a

business need. However, when remote access is deemed legitimate,

that access shall occur over a trusted method.

Attachment B Service Questionnaire

Section 10.2.3.1. Systems Support and

Maintenance

Subcontracting with another organization is not permitted Can you please clarify the extent to which subcontracting is permitted with

respect to an RFP response?  While multiple RFP provisions clearly

contemplate the potential for subcontracting, Section 10.2.3, regarding

System Support and Maintenance, appears to impose a complete prohibition

on subcontracting, without clearly indicating what specific subcontracting is

prohibited.

Subcontracting with another vendor is allowable as long as it meets

the guidelines of the RFP, are preapproved by the BDC and the

successful bidder has done business with the subcontractor without

incident for a specified time.

Request for Proposal, Section 5

Qualifications and Technical

Specifications and Attachment A -

Statement of Work

Attachment A 6.2.5 The Proposer must agree to provide a third

party administrator application that accurately stores PART

demographic and financial information and effectively

transfers information between the BDC, IPs and the centralized

and non-centralized pay centers.

Can you please clarify the definitions of "financial information" and the term

"accurately stores"? In the event the TPA application has information that

matches to the information provided by the BDC, pay centers or the IP, BUT

does not match to the information provided by the PART, is that considered

"accurately stored"?

PART “financial information" is not limited to social security numbers,

deferral amounts, balances, investment information, payroll files, and

deferral limits. "Accurately stores" means to retain the PART

information from the pay centers and Investment company vendors

on the TPA system. The PART information that the TPA receives

either from the BDC, pay centers or the IPs must match the

verification files that the TPA receives by the FRS and the Bureau of

State Payrolls. The TPS will not have direct contact with the PARTs.

Request for Proposal, Section 5

Qualifications and Technical

Specifications and Attachment A -

Statement of Work

Attachment A 6.4.2: The system must provide software to

process the following transactions electronically from the IP’s

including but not limited to: PART enrollments, deferral

changes, beneficiary changes, phone numbers and address

changes, e-mail address changes, name changes, company-to-

company transfer information, account balance information

(total account balance with date, balance by investment option

with date), rollover transactions, and distributions.

Please confirm that the TPA/RK will be collecting information about

transaction activity performed at the IP on behalf of the PART only and that

the TPA/RK is not actually providing any PA approval or processing PART

transactions except for those defined in Attachment A - Statement of Work,

Section 6.3.5. f. (limited to Account Balance Inquiry, Password Changes, and

Change Deferral Amounts). Are you looking for data aggregation of the

activity only?

The TPA will not be approving PART transaction activity except for the

parameters that are built in its system such as IRS and Plan Document

restrictions and limits. PART transactions will be for data aggregation

for the Bureau reports needs and the participant data that will be

aggregated for the payroll centers. Section 6.3.5.f. in Attachment A is

written to identify the PART data desired for the BDC’s website.

Request for Proposal, Section 5

Qualifications and Technical

Specifications and Attachment A -

Statement of Work

Attachment A 7.5: Final IP payroll file - the TPA will send each

IP an electronic final payroll file to notify them of the pending

deferral amounts per PART for the pay cycle the day before

payday.

Please clarify the purpose of the Final IP payroll file. Will the IP use this file to

update the PART deferral information based on the pending deferral amount

(percent or dollar)? If this final payroll file is for purposes of capturing

pending deferral percentages or dollar amounts only, will the TPA/RK be

responsible for the final actual payroll file for each PART (file will reflect in

dollar amounts only the actual contribution amount for that payroll) or the

necessary funding of the final payroll file by the BDC to the IPs?

The purpose of the file is to report to the IP's the PARTs actual

deferral amounts so that the IPs can accurately add the deferral to

the PARTs account. The IP will update the PARTs account balance

based on the amount of the deferral on the final payroll file. The final

payroll file will report contributions in dollars only. The TPA will

never receive any actual dollars. The BDC audits and balances each

pay center for each payroll. The PARTs deferral amounts on the final

payroll file does not guarantee future deferral amounts.

DFS TR RFP 14/15-21

Addendum #1

Minimum Requirement Referenced Text Questions ResponsesAttachment A Section 9.1 Third Party

Administrator Plan Support 

The TPA designee will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the PA

for after hour emergencies

Is there flexibility in this requirement? No. Support must be available during the times your

system is not working properly.

Attachment A Section 6.4.5 2 -

Balances (with clear fund titles)

Balances by fund and/or Funds by Asset Class, Weighted Holdings, including

Pie Charts, Historical account values, including line charts

Can account balances and net transaction amount only (not fund

information) be maintained by the TPA/RK where the details by fund are

maintained by the IPs instead ?

This information is required for the development of

the Plans Annual Plan Report.

Attachment A Section 7.4 Pay Center

Deferral Process (Actual, Discrepancy

and Prebill Files)

A Prebill is created by the TPA for every pay date that details all deferrals

and any changes for each PART at each pay center.

Would BDC be open to review alternative processes for payroll

processing?

Yes. In working with multiple pay centers the process

could not be amended without significant business

impact and operational reorganization. We are

willing to consider suggestions for process

improvement, but the TPA/RK must be able to meet

the minimum requirements of the RFP.

Attachment A Section 7.6 Over Deferral

Report

The file identifies any PART that is scheduled to over defer within 2 payrolls Would BDC be open to review alternative processes for proactive limits

monitoring within 1 payroll period?

No. Due to payroll processing deadlines this

information must be provided no later than two (2)

payrolls prior to a PART reaching the deferral limit.

It is against IRS regulations to change a deferral

amount in the same month the deferral is taken

from a PARTs pay. Therefore, the payroll centers

need the over deferral information two (2) payrolls

prior to the PART reaching their limit.

Attachment A Section 7.14 Technical

Requirements

The TPA must provide reasonable access to plan information; this includes

back up source material, reports, books, records, computer programs, and

all other information and documentation relating to the plan

Can you please clarify the definitions of items included as "plan

information" in this section?

Besides the items that are listed, this would include

the Plans PART data.

Attachment A Section 8.3.1 BOSP

Eligibility File

TPA will receive an electronic file from the centralized pay center and FRS

each month that contains the SOF pay center employees and other pay

center employees who are eligible to participate in the DCP

Can the electronic file be provided to the TPA/RK more frequently than

monthly?

Possibly. Currently this information is provided by

partner entities. While we could inquire as to

whether files may be provided more often, we

cannot guarantee that these entities will be able to

do so. In addition, these files are updated monthly;

therefore, the information would be the same until

the next month.

Attachment A Section 8.3.3 to 8.5.4

Audit, Monthly, Quarterly and Annual

Reports

Various Would BDC be open to review alternative reporting? While we would be willing to consider suggestions

for process improvement in reporting, the TPA/RK

must be able to meet the mandatory reporting

requirements as laid out in Attachment A.