June 15 is the deadline for CBIZ Human Capital Services to complete its work and submit its report on how Missouri state employees' salaries and benefits compare with others.
The St. Louis-based company won the state contract in December, after competing with two other bidders for the work.
"The comprehensive "Compensation and Benefits Study' will compare and analyze state employee salaries and benefit packages," Office of Administration spokeswoman Ryan Burns explained Friday.
The Legislature's Interim Committee on State Employee Pay - comprised of lawmakers, state officials and business representatives from around the state - determined several years ago Missouri government's average salaries were last among the nation's 50 states.
The state budget for the business year that begins July 1 includes a 2 percent, across-the-board raise for all state employees. That is twice the nation's 1.02 percent inflation rate through February 2016, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
Some have argued when benefits like health care and retirement are included, Missouri's "total compensation" for employees ranks better than last in national comparisons.
As the state's RFP explained to potential contractors: "There is some belief that while the pay for state employees is low, the benefits are outstanding. There is no data that the Division of Personnel has readily available that either validates or disputes the value attributed to Missouri state employee benefits.
"Major changes to the existing benefits packages, coupled with sporadic statewide salary adjustments, have made it more difficult to analyze the competitiveness of Missouri's total compensation packages."
So, the interim committee several years ago proposed having an outside contractor compare the state's full package with other state and local governments and with private sector businesses.
Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, who chairs the special committee, fought for several years to include money in the state budget for that study. In 2014, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the appropriation.
Last year, lawmakers again added $300,000 to the budget for the 2015-16 business year, and Nixon approved it for the study, allowing OA to create the RFP and seek interested firms to do the work.
"($300,000) is the maximum amount that will be spent," Burns said. "The total cost of the study will be based on the number of job classifications that are reviewed, which is being determined as the study progresses."
The RFP reminded bidders the state's Uniform Classification and Pay System (UCP) includes 887 job classes covering more than 35,000 employees, and the RFP noted, "a single job class may cover more than a 1,000 individual positions."
The state has a total of 3,013 job title codes, the RFP reported, with 785 classified in the UCP system, 155 unclassified and exempt and 2,073 listed outside the UCP.
Burns said the winning contractor, CBIZ Human Capital Services, "is one of the nation's leading providers of outsourced business services, including human resources consulting, accounting and tax, benefits and insurance, and a wide range of consulting services."
The company performs 75-100 compensation-related projects each year, Burns added, "including recent studies for numerous school districts, universities, local municipalities and state retirement systems."
Its bid listed Jefferson City's Public Schools and the city of Osage Beach among its recent clients.
"The contractor shall consider impacts of recent changes to existing laws," Burns said, "and the consequences to recruitment, retention and the appropriate number of state employees due to these changes," including:
The 2011 pension changes.
Requiring 10 years for state employment to be fully vested in the pension plan, rather than the previous five-year requirement.
Requiring new employees to contribute a percentage of their income to the retirement plan, when the state previously had paid the full amount - and still pays the full amount for those hired before 2011.
Replacing the "80-and-out" formula for retirement (age plus number of years of service equals 80 or more) with a "90-and-out" policy.
The RFP also specified what the final report must contain: "Comparison sources (states, business, local government, etc.) which identify the source, the number of positions for each comparison source, salary for each comparison source, and total reward compensation (salary and benefits) for each comparison source."
The report is to identify:
What is included in benefits.
Any special factors that should be considered such as finding that another state's government employees all are covered under labor union contracts.
The RFP also requires the final report to provide:
Recommendations for salary structure redesigns.
A comprehensive work plan for redesign implementation.
A financial impact analysis for each recommendation and/or redesign that is recommended.
Also, the final report is to include recommended "pay plan revisions for all classes," while showing separate "comparisons between the State of Missouri and comparable public sector employers and Missouri private sector employers," listing those comparisons by salary only and total reward compensation (salary and benefits).
The RFP also required the contractor to "provide guidance and recommendations on developing a total financial wellness program for employees ... that integrates all employer benefits and includes recommendations for guidance and education to assist employees with managing financial stress and building strong financial foundations."
The final report is to "evaluate the competitiveness of the state benefits package to include, but not limited to, health insurance (including the employee assistance program, vision and dental), retirement, long-term disability, leave and other paid time off, life insurance, etc., (and) consideration should be given for impact, if any, for continued flat insurance premium for the past five plus years to state employees."