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conforming. An email confirmation will be sent to the Respondent after receipt of theproposal.VIII. PROPOSAL CONTENT AND FORMATAll information requested in the RFP must be addressed in the Respondent’s proposal.Proposals should provide a concise explanation of Respondent’s qualifications and theproposed services to be rendered. Emphasis should be placed on completeness and clarity ofcontent. Each proposal must be submitted in response to categories A through J outlinedbelow and must be clearly labeled as such.A. Cover Lettera. Briefly state the Respondent’s understanding of the work requested and astatement why the Respondent believes it is best qualified to perform theengagement. The letter should be signed by the representative of theRespondent authorized to contract on behalf of the Respondent.B. Title Pagea. Dateb. Subjectc. Respondent’s name and chief executive officer (or the equivalent)d. Respondent’s addresse. Respondent’s website addressf. Respondent’s phone numberg. Respondent’s fax numberh. Contact’s namei. Contact’s titlej. Contact’s phone numberk. Contact’s email addressC. Table of ContentsD. Project Plana. Address the various services and deliverables outlined in Section III. Scope ofWork and describe the specific approach that will be taken in performingeach service or providing each deliverable.b. Describe how Respondent has the necessary dedicated staffing andbandwidth to take on this engagement, either in whole or in part. If in part,please describe the estimated extent of Respondent’s abilities to meet thescope of the engagement, including onsite fieldwork.c. Describe any deliverables or services, not included in Section III. Scope ofWork that your Firm would suggest be provided in order to provide morecomplete and thorough services. Also, describe your process for replacingPage 8 of 22

d.e.f.g.staff to ensure minimal to no delays in the completion of the audits asscheduled.Indicate the location of the office(s) from which the work on thisengagement is to be performed.Provide a percentage break down of how much of the engagement will beperformed at your site, CTPF’s site, or remotely.Identify tasks that will be performed by your Firm and tasks that you mayrecommend be performed by CTPF’s staff.Provide an estimate of how long it would take Respondent to complete acompliance audit on a per school basis, distinguishing between single siteemployers and multi-site employers and between large and smallworkforces. If Respondent has the necessary staffing and bandwidth,provide a timetable, for each service or deliverable, complete with estimatedhours and completion dates assuming 36, 72, or 144 audits in a 3 yearperiod.E. Billinga. Provide proposed fees/hourly rates for each level of professional and supportstaff and/or task and deliverable. For hourly rates, please provide anticipatedpercentage of total hours to be spent at each rate level and/or a breakdownof how you anticipate hours to be allocated. Are out-of-pocket expensesincluded in your fee structure? Is travel to compliance audit work sitesincluded? Do you bill for time at Trustees’ meetings and the preparation ofeach individual audit report?b. State any special considerations with respect to billing or payment of feesand expenses that Respondent offers and that you believe woulddifferentiate your Firm from other proposals and would make your Firm’sservices more cost effective to the Fund.c. CTPF expects the lowest rate charged by Respondent for its governmentaland non-profit clients. If for any reason Respondent is unwilling or unable tocharge the lowest rate, please explain why.d. Unless part of the RFP response, the billing rate will be fixed for the threeyear term (subject to termination) of this engagement.F. Firm’s Background, Qualifications, and Experiencea. Briefly describe Respondent’s background, history, and ownership structure,including any parent, affiliated, or subsidiary company, and any businesspartners. The firm must be regularly-established in the industry of providingpayroll compliance audit services, financially responsible, and haveexperienced personnel able to provide the required services. CTPF mayrequest additional information substantiating the above requirements.Failure to provide this information may result in a Respondent’s proposalbeing declared non-responsive.Page 9 of 22

b. Provide the size of the Firm including number of offices and number of fulltime employees. Identify the key personnel proposed for the CTPFengagement, emphasizing specific experience on contracts similar in scope tothe requirements of this RFP. Describe his or her position, currentresponsibilities, areas of expertise, experience, education, professionaldesignations, and memberships. Include details regarding the proposedmanagement of the personnel who would be assigned to the CTPFengagement. Will a dedicated compliance audit manager be assigned? CTPFexpects a reasonable notice of key personnel being removed from theengagement and reserves the right to approve the replacement of keypersonnel.c. Provide the number of years that the Firm and any identified individuals havebeen providing the services requested in this RFP.d. Provide details on your Firm’s employee benefit industryexperience/expertise. Specifically, state whether your Firm has providedpayroll compliance audit services to other public pension funds, retirementsystems, or ERISA employee benefit funds which are of similar or greater sizeand/or complexity as the Fund.e. Include a representative listing of your Firm’s benefit plan clients for whichyou provide employer compliance audit services and, for each, list the yearwhen services were last provided.f. State how many payroll compliance audits your Firm performs on an annualbasis. Please provide a summary of the size of these audits, as to the numberof participants per audit.g. Comment on the percentage of your Firm’s business that is made up ofemployee benefit plan clients and state how many plans your Firm auditsannually.h. Is your firm lawfully qualified to practice public accounting as regulated bythe Illinois Public Accounting Act, independent from personal, external, andorganizational impairment?i. Is your Firm a member of the American Institute of Certified PublicAccountants (AICPA)? If so, please include a copy of your Firm’s most recentPeer Review.j. Is your Firm a member of the AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plan Quality Center?If so, please describe your involvement.k. Has your Firm undergone a U.S. Department of Labor Audit QualityInspection? When? What were the results?l. Will your Firm use outside contractors (subcontractors) for this engagement?If so, what confidentiality agreement is in place to protect sensitiveinformation from disclosure? What allocation of the scope of services will beassigned to outside contractors (subcontractors)?m. Do you have a relationship with any audit firms that are MWDBE firms? Ifnot, are you willing to enter into an arrangement by which you wouldsubcontract work to a MWDBE firm?Page 10 of 22

n. Indicate Respondent’s due diligence process in hiring, evaluating, andmonitoring its staff and contractors, as applicable.o. List any known professional or personal relationships Respondent or itsemployees or contractors may have with individual CTPF Board membersand/or Fund staff.p. Identify any potential or actual conflicts of interest you have in providingservices to CTPF. State whether you have ever provided services to CTPF, theCity of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education (“Chicago Public Schools” or“CPS”), the Chicago Teachers Union (“CTU”), the Retired Teachers’Association of Chicago (“RTAC”), the Chicago Principals and AdministratorsAssociation (“CPAA”), any Chicago charter school, or any employee group ortrade organization related to the aforementioned entities. If so, please statethe name of each such client or former client, contact information, and thenature and time frame of such representation. In providing such information,you consent to and agree to release CTPF from any liability that may resultfrom contacting such client(s) and communicating with such client(s) aboutyour prior engagements, and soliciting an opinion regarding the workperformed for such client(s). In addition, please state how you intend toresolve any potential or actual conflicts of interest.q. Identify all public sector or ERISA fund clients who have terminated theirworking relationship with you in the past five (5) years and provide a briefstatement of the reason(s) for the termination. Provide each client’s contactinformation. You consent to and hereby release CTPF from any liability thatmay arise from contacting your former client(s) and communicating withthem about the work you performed and the reason for your termination.G. Insurance, Liability, Confidentiality, and Litigationa. What assurances can you provide that your Firm will not be subject to cyberattacks? Describe security and protection measures.b. It is expected that the selected firms will have adequate quality controlprocedures in place to guarantee the accuracy of the work performed. Theseprocedures will include reviewing draft compliance audit reports for accuracyand in accordance with established Procedures (see Exhibit I) prior tosubmission to the Fund. Describe your quality assurance procedures.c. Please describe the levels of your professional liability insurance coverage forclient security breaches (cyber risk) and any fiduciary or professional liabilityinsurance your Firm carries. Is the coverage on a per client basis or is thedollar figure applied to the Firm as a whole? List the insurance carriers.i. What limitation on liability, if any, do you impose through yourcontract? The Firm must not seek to unreasonably limit its liability fornegligence.ii. Are you bonded?iii. Does coverage for liability, due to your negligence, continue for aperiod following termination of the contract? If so, for how long?Page 11 of 22

d.e.f.g.iv. Identify the amount, type of coverage, deductible, and anycoinsurance.What is the organization’s policy on confidentiality during and after theengagement?Has your Firm ever been involved in a lawsuit in the last ten (10) yearsinvolving any services provided by the Firm? If so, provide details, includingdescription of the lawsuit, dates, and outcomes.Has your Firm, related entities, affiliates, principals, and/or officers been aparty in any material civil or criminal litigation, or subject to investigation,disciplinary action, or regulatory review, whether or not directly related toservices requested by this RFP? If so, provide details, including dates andoutcomes.Describe any anticipated litigation in which your Firm may be involved.H. Sample Contract or Agreementa. Provide a sample contract/engagement letter for the services proposed byyour Firm.I. Referencesa. Please provide three references who are clients for whom you haveperformed work similar to that requested in this RFP. Include the referencename, title, entity, address, telephone number, email, and description of theservices provided.b. In providing such information, you consent to and hereby release CTPF fromany liability that may arise from contacting your references andcommunicating with such references about your current or priorengagements, and soliciting an opinion regarding the work performed forsuch reference.J. Exhibits and AttachmentsInclude additional information or exhibits appropriate for CTPF’sconsideration under this category. The disclosures requested under SectionXXIII of this RFP and corresponding completed EEOC chart (XXIII (vi)) shall beincluded as exhibits under this category.IX. WRITTEN QUESTIONSProspective Respondents who have questions regarding this RFP may email the contact listedabove by the due date listed in the timeline above for written questions. Please reference“Payroll Compliance Audit Services RFP Questions” in the subject line of the email. Thequestions (without identification of the questioner) and the answers will be posted on the CTPFwebsite according to the above timeline.Page 12 of 22

X. PROPOSAL EVALUATIONThe following guidelines will be used to analyze and evaluate all proposals. CTPF reserves theright to evaluate all factors deemed appropriate, whether or not such factors have been statedin this section.A. QUALIFICATIONSIn order to be selected for this engagement, the Respondent must demonstrate that itcan meet the requirements of the RFP and the scope of work contained in the RFP.The Respondent must be regularly established in the industry of providing payrollcompliance audit services and must provide detailed information in response to SectionVIII (f) Firm’s Background, Qualifications, and Experience. CTPF may request informationsubstantiating these requirements.Failure to provide this information may result in a Respondent’s proposal being declarednon-responsive.B. REVIEW OF PROPOSALSa. An Evaluation Committee consisting of Trustees and/or Fund staff will evaluateall proposals received.b. The Committee will determine if Respondents meet the mandatoryrequirements listed below:i. The Respondent has no conflict of interest with respect to any other workperformed by the Respondent.ii. The Respondent must demonstrate that it can meet the requirements ofthe RFP and the Scope of Work contained in this RFP.iii. The Respondent must adhere to the instructions in this RFP.iv. The Respondent must follow the proposal content and format outlined inSection VIII.v. The Respondent must provide all disclosures requested in Section XXIII asa clearly marked exhibit.c. Factors to be considered by the Committee members include, but are not limitedto:i. Qualifications to perform the services requested;ii. Price;iii. Responses to the Proposal Content in Section VIII; andiv. Presentation to the Committee (if applicable).Any contract award is ultimately a decision of the Board of Trustees and is not required to bebased on the evaluations, scoring, or recommendations by the Evaluation Committee.Page 13 of 22

This RFP is not an offer of a contract. Acceptance of a proposal does not commit CTPF to awarda contract to any Respondent, even if the Respondent satisfied all requirements stated in thisRFP. Publication of this RFP does not limit CTPF’s right to negotiate for the services described inthis RFP. CTPF reserves the right to choose to not to enter into an agreement with any of theRespondents to this RFP.The information submitted in response to this RFP becomes the exclusive property of CTPF.XI. FINALIST PRESENTATIONSAfter the proposal submission due date, CTPF will contact the top-ranked Respondents to setup a meeting, approximately one hour in length, with the RFP Evaluation Committee either onsite at the CTPF offices, 203 N. La Salle, or via videoconference, or by telephone. At thesemeetings, Respondents must be prepared to provide a brief presentation on their payrollcompliance audit services as outlined in their proposal and answer any questions regardingtheir proposal. Additionally, Respondents may be invited to present to the CTPF Board ofTrustees and/or to the Finance & Audit Committee.At the discretion of the Board of Trustees, top-ranked Respondents may not be asked topresent to the Evaluation Committee; rather, such Respondents may instead be asked topresent directly to the Board of Trustees or to the Finance & Audit Committee.XII. RFP WITHDRAWAL OR MODIFICATIONProposals may be withdrawn or modified by a written or email request prior to the RFP duedate. CTPF may, by written notice to all Respondents, cancel, postpone, or amend the RFP priorto the due date. If CTPF decides, at its sole discretion, that the revision or amendment willrequire additional time for response, the due date will be extended for all Respondents.XIII. INCOMPLETE PROPOSALSCTPF reserves the right to request additional information or to reject the proposal outright ifthe information provided in a Respondent’s proposal is deemed to be insufficient forevaluation. False, incomplete, or unresponsive statements in connection with a proposal maybe sufficient cause for its rejection. The evaluation and determination of the fulfillment of therequirements will be determined by CTPF and such judgment shall be final.Any proposal received at the designated email after the required time and date specified forreceipt shall be considered late and non-responsive. Late proposals will not be evaluated foraward.Page 14 of 22

Proposals submitted shall be valid for one hundred twenty (120) days following the closing datenoted above. C

Specifically, the payroll compliance audit services will relate to charter schools' compliance with 40 ILCS 5/17-106 in determining if employees of charter schools were or should have been participants in the Fund during the compliance audit period determined by the Fund and whether charter school employers have appropriately contributed and made employee payroll deductions in accordance .