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Proposal to Provide Actuarial Valuation of OPEB Liabilities <br />For the City of Santa Ana <br />May 2016 <br />The following is a description of the general process we typically follow. Some changes can often be <br />made to suit the City's needs or preferences. Our approach to providing services to the City will be for <br />the consultant to collect and review preliminary information with appropriate City representatives <br />to obtain their specific directions and needs regarding the upcoming valuation. At this time, a <br />tentative schedule will be developed, such as the typical schedule shown below. <br />Typical Time <br />Elapsed. <br />for Bickmore <br />Time <br />Description of Tasks - - <br />1 week <br />1 week <br />Engagement letter or contract signed. Bickmore and City representatives discuss project overvlew/Issues. <br />1 week <br />2 weeks <br />Data request materials are sent to the City from actuarial analyst. <br />Data request materials are returned to Bickmore analyst. <br />Returned data Is organized by analyst and (If needed) subsequent questions asked. <br />Varies -Agency's timing <br />2 weeks <br />4 weeks <br />Actuary prepares report to City summarizing recommended assumptions; review with City <br />Organized data is coded by analyst and checked by senior actuaries; add'I questions/analysis If needed. <br />2 weeks <br />6 weeks <br />1 week <br />7 weeks <br />Once results are set, report exhibits are created and full report Is drafted. Editing process begins. <br />1 week <br />8 weeks <br />Actuaries complete final review and editing of the full draft report and send to the City. <br />When the City is ready, the lead actuary reviews draft report with city staff, <br />Once the City approves the report draft, Bickmore Issues the final report and assists with any audit Issues. <br />Varies - Agency's timing <br />Varies- Agency's timing <br />A complete and accurate data submission and responsiveness to our questions (although tedious, <br />we know) can greatly improve our ability to turn our report out more quickly, should that be <br />important to the City for its particular circumstances. <br />S. City Staff Estimate <br />We recognize that significant employee and plan information most be communicated between the <br />City and the actuary and respect the effort that is required from our clients to provide the data <br />necessary for Bickmore to produce a credible product. Likewise, we commit significant time beyond <br />the report itself to identify issues worthy of discussion, the ramifications of various results and <br />decisions and to assist in the disclosure of results for financial reporting. <br />The time required for each agency to gather the data varies based on the complexity of benefits <br />and the agency's existing records and ability to select the fields required to prepare the <br />calculations. We've included samples of our typical Data Request Parts I and II as Appendices A and <br />B, respectively. In some cases, we have had clients able to complete these requests in about 4 hours <br />(especially when a CaIPERS OPEB data extract is used). Others may require 8-12 hours if retrieval of <br />information is less automated. In addition, we anticipate 1-4 hours of finance staff time to answer <br />occasional questions or to discuss the draft report prior to it being finalized. As we noted earlier in <br />our proposal, the time that Bickmore and the City invested during the 2014 valuation process <br />provides a solid foundation regarding the benefits, funding policy and plan population that should <br />shorten the time required during this 2016 valuation process.in addition, elimination of the various <br />union subsidy plans from this engagement will reduce the breadth of information to be provided and <br />analyzed. <br />Bickmore a ; <br />