If your incumbent vendor fails the Incumbent Review^SM and is unwilling to reduce fees, you should proceed to an RFP.

We recommend that your ERISA attorney, if you have one, should be involved in the Incumbent Review^SM process. We do not require the involvement of a lawyer if an employer wishes to proceed without one.

Conventional wisdom has held for many years that you must perform a request for proposal on all medical and retirement plan vendors every 3 to 5 years in order to satisfy your fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA. This is not so. As long as you document a thorough analysis of your vendors’ continued competitiveness in terms of services provided and fees charged, an RFP is not necessary. The Incumbent Review^SM is designed to satisfy your fiduciary obligations without the cost, time and potential relationship disruption of a full-blown RFP. Our process almost always results in lower fees and more/additional services.

Cofi can employ techniques to make our services cost-free to the employer. The incumbent provider often pays for the service. Also, because our fee is a fiduciary expense, it can also always be paid from plan assets.

A Cofi Incumbent Review^SM is designed to significantly limit your engagement throughout the process. Aside from an hour for the initial employer needs analysis and a meeting to discuss the results of the review, employer involvement is not required. Our process is completely transparent, and you may see and participate in as much of the process as you wish. However, there is virtually no employer involvement in our process. The employer may participate as much as desired, but more than this is not necessary.

The length of the process varies depending on a number of factors: complexity of the plan, size of plan, etc. On average, an Incumbent Review^SM takes 30-60 days.

It depends very much on a number of factors: e.g., type of plan, number of vendors, complexity of the plan, size of plan, etc. Cofi will provide a flat fee or hourly pricing on request.