Caprio to lead examination of state retirement system
This, today, from the office of Gen. Treas. Frank Caprio:
As part of his effort to enhance customer service and improve the management of all 
Treasury operations, General Treasurer Frank Caprio has won approval from the state Retirement Board for a proposal to conduct a benchmarking study comparing the operations of the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island to similar public sector retirement systems in the country.
The Retirement Board approved a plan to hire CEM Benchmarking to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the operations of the ERSRI. Caprio said benchmarking studies are a progressive tool being used by managers in both the public and private sector to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations compared to similar agencies and organizations.
“This study will enable us to measure the productivity of our operation and identify areas where we can do our jobs more effectively for the people of Rhode Island,” said Caprio. “I believe state government needs to be accountable to the people it serves and conduct its operations in a transparent manner. This study will be a rigorous and open evaluation of how we are doing compared to other public sector retirement systems and how we can do better.”
Caprio said CEM Benchmarking has a database of information regarding the management of numerous public pension systems, which will be used to identify those ERSRI programs which are operating efficiently and inefficiently. The company will look at metrics such as service level, costs, transaction volumes, and plan complexity and how those metrics compare to similar public retirement systems. Representatives from the company and ERSRI staff will spend the next few months evaluating the various operations of the retirement office and will develop a report for the Treasurer to be presented as early as February.
CEM Benchmarking has provided independent, objective and actionable analysis to over 170 corporate and government clients in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Pension administration is one of the company’s core industry sectors and CEM Benchmarking has extensive experience obtaining performance metrics, evaluating a client’s performance and costs based on benchmark comparisons to similar entities and identifying best practices.
“Improving the performance of the ERSRI is an essential part of my commitment to improve customer service and make government more accountable,” said Caprio. “I look forward to working with CEM Benchmarking to review the operations of the retirement system so that we identify what is working and what needs to be improved.”