Over the past fourteen (14) plus years, LRWL has enjoyed significant growth and success. This is based on some unique aspects of our position, skills, and experience in the public employees' and teachers' retirement system marketplace.

Attributes

The unique attributes include:

• We bring all of our previous knowledge to bear on your project. We understand that public employees' and teachers' retirement systems are all different, yet they are also largely the same when viewed from the proper perspective. On the surface, it would appear that each system is unique, and indeed, each does have its unique aspects. But when we scratch below the surface, we find that many of the differences are at a very detailed level and, in some cases, merely differences in terminology. For example, an area of great concern at one client was the processing of refunds, refund paybacks, and service credits. At another, the "hot button" was so-called WCPS (Withdrawn Contribution Purchase of Service). But at a fundamental level, the concerns and the processes being discussed were essentially similar.
  
   
• We are committed to providing clients with the most cost-effective solution to their needs. Other qualified offerors are typically large consulting firms. They are often qualified to do the job, but, due to their need to support the expenses implied by their larger organizations and infrastructure, their rates for services are typically significantly higher than LRWL's for comparable senior level resources. The large consulting firms are driven by different objectives than LRWL. They must maximize billings by their consultants, and they must constantly seek on-the-job training opportunities for their less-senior consultants. Projects such as these provide these large consultancies with an ideal opportunity to "initiate" those more-junior staff members. LRWL will not assign any junior staff to projects; in fact, we have no junior staff per se.
  
   
• The alternative to the large consulting firms is the sole practitioner. These firms generally have the strength of extensive experience and genuine expertise. The person who forms the firm is usually more than qualified to do the job. The disadvantage of the sole practitioner is in the area of resource availability. If the practitioner becomes ill or has a sudden personal crisis, little or no backup is available. If his or her interest in an area wanes, there is typically no backup. All contractual tasks must be single-threaded through him or her, so if there is a need for quick turnaround on a series of tasks, he or she cannot meet aggressive deadlines. If he or she is awarded several contracts at or about the same time, he or she is quickly spread too thin and cannot dedicate adequate time to each of them.
  
   
• Unlike some of our competitors, we have no other product or service to sell. We are not trying to "get our foot in the door for the big sale" for auditing, accounting, actuarial, or other services by bidding such projects. This is our stock-in-trade. We have done it before and we have done it well.
  
   
• We may or may not quote the lowest hourly rate or the lowest "apparent" total cost, but we are the most cost-effective alternative. A consulting firm's costs, on which its fees are based, are composed of two major components - direct costs (labor, i.e., the rate the firm pays to its "billable" staff members) and overhead (administrative staff, office facilities, equipment, etc.). LRWL's cost structure is heavily weighted toward direct costs. Therefore, when a retirement system spends a dollar with LRWL, it buys mostly hard work and expertise from seasoned, senior level consultants rather than art work and antique furniture for the firm's corporate offices.
  
   
• Further, our commitment to the public employee retirement system environment cannot be equaled. Our staff participates in and the firm sponsors PRISM, NASRA, NCTR, SCTR, and CALAPRS. We have been invited speakers at those meetings as well as invited facilitators at various round table discussions.

Repositories

Another aspect of LRWL's uniqueness relates to our repository of reusable materials. We have developed three such pertinent repositories available to all staff and all projects.

• The first such repository relates to samples of products that we have developed and used successfully - the most numerous of which relate to oversight project management and quality assurance efforts. That database is maintained and updated by our staff on a continual basis. In the repository, we have included and indexed samples of all products such as:
  • Status reports
  • Steering Committee agenda
  • Stress tests
  • Requirements Traceability Matrix
  • System testing report
  • GAP or design review
  • Project scope memo
  • Staff replacement form
  • Payment point invoice approval
  • Test cases
  • Backfile conversion status report
  • Data problem listing
  • Retirement system glossary
  • White papers
  • Go live checklists
  • Executive Director's Daily go live reports
  • Etc.
    
     
• The second relates to procurement activities. In this area we have a database of potential templates that include:
  
  • "To be" business areas, such as:
    • Enrollments
    • Refunds
    • Refund paybacks
    • QDROs
    • Retirement Application
    • Payroll
    • Employer Reporting
    • Optional Service Credit
    • Benefit Estimates
    • Disability
    • Tax Processing
    • COLA
    • Health Insurance
    • Accounting
    • Investments
    • Budgeting
    • ACH
    • Etc.
      
  • Other pertinent key RFP sections such as:
    • Project management
    • Deliverable structures
    • Testing requirements
    • Training requirements
    • Installation requirements
    • System sizing and performance
    • Security and controls
    • Correspondence management and document tracking
    • Contact and contract management
    • Data cleansing
    • Data bridging and conversion
    • Workflow management
    • Imaging requirements
    • System development life cycle
    • Change management
    • Problem incident reporting
    • Disaster recovery planning
    • Warranty
    • Other
      
  • Options to be considered by the client, such as:
    • WEB enablement
    • Backfile conversion
    • Help desk software / support
    • Post-implementation support
    • Data warehouse
    • Outsourcing
    • Call center
    • Statistical reporting
    • Automated voice response
    • Appeals, hearings, and litigation tracking
    • Customer Service Screens
    • Cash Management System
    • Certifications by Independent Public Accountant (IPA)
    • Other
      
       
• The third repository relates to best practices, such as:
  
  • Best practice project summaries
  • Best practice recommendation template
  • Various surveys pertaining to practices, customer / client services, utilization of technology, etc.
  • Various surveys relating to expectations and satisfaction levels of: active members, retirees, employers, board members, retirement system staff
  • Best practice observations and trip reports
  • Recommendations for "achievable" best practices
  • Best practice metrics
  • "Quick hit" suggestions and recommendations for improvement in both practices / procedures and organizational structure
  • Best practice cost benefit analyses
  • Other