CalPERS is searching for Washington-based lobbying firms that would participate in a pool that could be chosen to represent the Sacramento-based retirement system on investment and retirement issues on an as-needed basis.
The $340.6 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System wants to refresh the current pool of firms and intends to engage with selected lobbying firms for the remainder of the pool's contract, which is scheduled to go through June 30, 2020.
The pool supplements the contracts the pension fund has with three firms on investment and financial market and retirement issues. K&L Gates is the federal representative for investment and financial market regulation issues, while a joint venture between Lussier Group and Williams & Jensen is the federal representative for retirement policy issues.
The existing firms in the current pool are eligible to reapply.
Proposals are due at 3 p.m. PST Nov. 16. CalPERS expects to review proposals on a preliminary basis from Nov. 16-20 and then conduct reviews with finalists from Nov. 20 through Dec. 1. A final hiring date has not been decided, but the pool of firms is expected to be in place by Jan. 2.
The RFP is available on CalPERS' website.