Advisor Search RFP Response Scoring Tool Available Free of Charge on the Website of the Council

Issued by: Retirement Advisor Council

Date: Apr. 11, 2016

The RFP Response Scoring Tool dovetails with the Council’s Advisor Search RFP Template, and covers twelve crucial questions that plan sponsors should ask of their prospective or existing plan advisor.  The tool allows users to weight the importance of each factor and to rate advisor responses from 1 to 5.   The tool returns an overall score for each advisor response.

The Advisor Search RFP Response Scoring Tool from the Council is an important aid for plan sponsor committees.  Using the tool and keeping a record of scoring results helps document the committee decision was purposeful and followed an established process and a generally-accepted practice.

“It is important that plan fiduciaries exercise due diligence in selecting a plan Advisor.  The template RFP available on the website of the Council helps plan sponsors verify that respondents meet the necessary qualifications.  It is just as important to document that the final selection followed a process.  The scoring tool is one process” says Michele Casey, CRPS®   of The Casey Retirement Group at Morgan Stanley / Reno, NV.  Casey is a member of the Advisor Search RFP Template committee of the Retirement Advisor Council that developed the rating tool.

The Retirement Advisor Council is a national organization that advocates for successful qualified plan and participant retirement outcomes through the collaborative efforts of experienced, qualified retirement plan advisors, investment managers and defined contribution plan service providers.  To advance its mission, the Council undertakes initiatives in the areas of research, public relations and promotion, general public education, regulatory positions and practice management.  The Council accomplishes this mission by:

• Identifying duties, responsibilities, and attributes of the Professional Retirement Plan Advisor.
  
• Sharing professional standards with plan sponsors who are responsible for the success of their plans.
  
• Providing collective thought capital to decision makers, product providers, legislators and the public.
  
• Giving voice to the retirement plan advisor community.
  
• Offering tools to evaluate advisors to ensure the quality of services provided.

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