Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, Des Moines, on behalf of itself, three other state pension funds and group that oversees endowment assets, has reissued an RFP for a firm to provide divestment services to comply with a state statute prohibiting investment in companies engaged in boycotts against Israel, according to an RFP on the $28.5 billion pension fund's website.
The pension fund originally issued the RFP in October and reissued it Monday because IPERS was “unable to reach contract terms with either of the two vendors that submitted proposals,” according to the new RFP.
The new RFP now features revised evaluation criteria, minimum qualifications and scope of services. Proposals are due at 3 p.m. CST on March 9, and the RFP cited “statutory deadlines we face in implementing the boycott Israel divestment program” as the reason for the quick turnaround. A timeline for a decision was not provided, but services are scheduled to begin July 1.
The other pension funds and endowments are the $2.2 billion Iowa Municipal Fire & Police Retirement System, West Des Moines; $401 million Iowa Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement System and $120 million Iowa Judicial Retirement System, both based in Des Moines; and the Iowa State Board of Regents, Urbandale, which oversees the cash and endowment assets of the $2 billion University of Iowa, $895 million of Iowa State University and $158 million of the University of Northern Iowa.
IPERS spokeswoman Judy Akre could not provide further information by press time.
