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Contract Opportunity

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 10.002(b) (2) (i), this notice is issued for the purpose of conducting market research. Market research is being conducted to determine if there are potential businesses with the capacity and experience to perform the required work. This notice is not to be misconstrued as a Request for Proposal or Quotation. This notice does not represent a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract.

There is no solicitation at this time. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred.

Acknowledgment of responses may not be made and respondents will not be notified regarding the results of the Government’s evaluation of the information received. The determination to proceed with the acquisition is within the discretion of the Government. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.

Please be reminded that a prospective Offeror interested in obtaining a contract award with the Government must be registered in the Federal Government's System for Award Management (SAM) database. Additional information regarding contractor registration can be obtained through www.SAM.gov. All qualified small businesses, including 8(a) firms, are encouraged to participate.

1. Description of Services

The Office of the Senior Procurement Executive (OSPE) on behalf of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), seeks to obtain contracted services for online access to reports and databases that provide detailed information, both historical, current, and projected, on markets, investment vehicles and stakeholders impacted by various proposed regulatory actions.

To accomplish these goals effectively and efficiently, EBSA requires online access to reports and databases that provide detailed information, both historical, current, and projected, on markets, investment vehicles and stakeholders impacted by its regulations. The information shall also support EBSA’s research work and enforcement program. Reports and data shall provide historical and projected (as designated) data and information in the following areas:

U.S. Retirement Markets:

• Historical and Projected assets in Defined Benefit (DB) plans, Defined Contribution (DC) plans and IRAs


• Projected annual new IRA rollover contributions


• Retirement-related data analyses and industry trends


• Produce customized DC market projections

U.S. Retirement End-Investor:

• Historical and Projected IRA Rollover contributions from DC plans


• Participants’ reason to contact call centers


• Projected 401(k) contributions and distributions

U.S. Defined Contribution Distribution:

• Information about DC plan litigations


• Anticipated changes in DC plan investment menu


• Micro, Small, mid-sized plan market profile for most recent year


• Services offered by call centers to plan participants

U.S. Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing:

• Information on how institutional investors and retail investors use ESG factors,


• Information on how asset managers deal with data challenges and the datasets that they currently use.


• Historical data of ESG asset sizing for the last decade by vehicle type.

U.S. Alternative Investments:

• Growth in SPACs


• Distribution and use of alternative investments including non-traded real-estate investment trusts (NTRs), business development, interval funds and cryptocurrency

U.S. Broker-Dealer (BD) Marketplace:

• Historical BD advisor market share and headcount


• Projected BD advisor market share and headcount


• Historical BD market share between employee vs. independent advisor


• Historical market share between BD vs. Registered Investment Advisor (RIA)

U.S. Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) Marketplace:

• Historical RIA advisor market share and headcount


• Projected RIA advisor market share and headcount


• AUM-based Advisory Fees, most recent year


• Investment Product Use and Retirement Income Methods, most recent year

U.S. Retail Investor Advice Relationship:

• Important Factors in Choosing an Advisor, most recent year


• Willingness to Pay for Advice and Investor-Reported Fee Structure, most recent year


• Level of Satisfaction with Primary Advisor, most recent year


• Investor-Reported vs. Investors’ Preferred Fee Structure

U.S. Managed Accounts

• Sizing and survey results of the fee-based platform landscape (MF, ETF, SMA wrap, Rep-as-PM, UMA, etc.)


• Sizing and survey results of the retail SMA landscape viewed by provider and asset class

U.S. Private Banks and Trust Companies

• Sizing of the Private Bank, Superregional, Regional, and Community Bank trust wealth management landscape


• Leaderboards of each channel


• Survey results from advisors with these bank channels

U.S. Advisor Metrics

• Sizing of the Broker/Dealer and Registered Investment Advisor landscape


• Advisor survey results focused on investments, services, clientele, retirement, etc.


• 10-year historical market sizing trends and projections for the U.S. financial advisor marketplace across channels

U.S. Asset Allocation Model Portfolios

• Sizing of the asset manager, wealth manager, and 3rd party model provider landscape


• Sizing of model marketplaces


• Coverage of advisor portfolio construction

The State of U.S. Retail and Institutional Asset Management

• Broad coverage of the U.S. asset management landscape


• Macro sizing of all professionally managed assets for retail channels, institutional clients, and the defined contribution landscape

Furthermore, the agency would like to have data/reports that provides additional information in the following areas:

U.S. Retirement Market data subscription:

• Product, marketing, distribution, sales, platform, and regulatory trends in U.S. Retirement Market


• Universe includes DB, DC, IRAs and rollovers


• Data is updated quarterly.

• Access to survey data of defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors and plan participants


• Access to Form 5500 Series data with 401(k) plans segmented by assets and participant type and overall market sizing and projections.

The proposed acquisition will be classified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code: 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.

See the attached RFI Document for submission instructions. Response must be submitted to Deborah Worrells, Worrells.deborah@dol.gov and Maria Britton, britton.maria.m@dol.gov by the closing date/time of this notice.

Attachments/Links