Defined contribution plan executives increasingly are searching for new service providers in an effort to trim plan costs.
Plan sponsors citing fees as one reason they have issued or plan to issue RFPs this year for record keepers or other providers include:
• Philadelphia Public Employees Retirement System, which issued an RFP in February for a record keeper for its $367 million 457 plan;
• Texas Employees' Retirement System, Austin, which started a search in March for an investment advice provider and managed account service for participants in its $703 million 401(k) and $246 million 457 plans;
• Los Angeles City Deferred Compensation Plan, which issued an RFP in March for a record keeper for its $1.6 billion plan;
• Missouri Deferred Compensation Commission, Columbia, which plans to issue an RFP later this year for a third-party administrator and investment provider for its 457 and two 401(a) plans, with total assets of $860 million;
• Washington State Investment Board, Olympia, which will launch a search later this year for a record keeper for the state's $1.7 billion deferred compensation and the $3.5 billion DC portion of the state's combined defined benefit/defined contribution plan;
• Healthfirst Corp., Melbourne, Fla., which recently issued an RFP for a bundled provider for its $185 million defined contribution plans; and
• Gaston County Dyeing Machine Co., Stanley, N.C., which issued an RFP earlier this year for a bundled provider for its less than $100 million 401(k) plan.