Independent Fee & Service Benchmarking: A Documented Answer to “Are Our Fees Reasonable?
Sometimes called a fee and service audit, benchmarking compares your current provider's fees and services against today's market — using live, anonymous pricing rather than stale survey data — and documents the result for your fiduciary file. Most engagements complete in about a month.
fee & service audit
The Market Has Moved — Whether or Not Your Fees Have
Between participant litigation and the DOL's fee-reasonableness expectations, plan sponsors are accountable for demonstrating — with documentation — that fees and services are competitive. And pricing across every provider category has changed materially in the past years: consolidation, technology, and competition have reset what the market charges for the same services.
Which means a fee arrangement that was competitive when it was negotiated may quietly not be anymore — and 'we haven't had any complaints' is not documentation. Benchmarking is the lightest-weight way to find out where you stand, and to prove you checked.
We Don't Rely on Databases. We Ask the Market — Without Using Your Name.
Most benchmarking reports are built from survey databases — useful directionally, but they lag the market and average away the details that determine your actual pricing. Our approach is different: alongside our market knowledge, we interview a targeted set of service providers to obtain current pricing for a plan with your profile — without ever using your organization's name.
The anonymity matters twice over. Your incumbent never knows a review is underway, so nothing about the relationship changes while you get your answer. And the market quotes you receive are real, current numbers — not what providers were charging when a survey was compiled, and not what they say when they know exactly who's asking and why.
A Documented Report, Built for Your Fiduciary File
The deliverable is a written benchmarking report your committee retains:
Your current fees and services, organized for comparison
Current market pricing for a plan of your size and profile, from live anonymous sampling and market data
A service-by-service comparison — core and non-core — so value is compared, not just price
Our findings and a documented conclusion: competitive, negotiable, or worth a deeper look
Filed with your fiduciary records, the report is the periodic-review evidence that committees, counsel, and regulators look for — dated, independent, and specific to your plan.
Three Outcomes — All of Them Good
If your arrangement is competitive, you're done: the documentation goes in the file, and the next benchmark is a year or two out. If fees are above market but the relationship is strong, the report becomes your negotiating position — many sponsors resolve the gap with their incumbent without ever running a search. And if the gap is large or the service issues are real, you have a documented basis for a full RFP — with the benchmarking work carrying forward into it rather than starting over.
Not sure which level fits? See how benchmarking, RFI, and full RFP evaluations compare → /services
Our References Are Our Clients — All of Them
Our clients engage us for independent evaluations at sensitive moments — often at the direction of counsel — so we don't publish named testimonials or case studies. Discretion is part of the engagement.
What we offer instead is stronger: 100% of Culpepper RFP clients can act as a reference, a standard we've maintained since the firm began. When you're seriously evaluating whether to work with us, we'll connect you directly with organizations similar to yours in size, plan type, and situation — and you can ask them anything.
We benchmark fees and services for retirement plan providers, benefits brokers, OCIO managers, and actuarial services — see each evaluation page for what's covered.
Questions Plan Sponsors Ask About Benchmarking
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A provider benchmarking the plan that pays them is grading its own homework — even done honestly, it isn't independent, and it typically relies on the same survey databases everyone else uses. Our benchmarking is performed by a firm with no financial relationship to any of your providers, using live anonymous market pricing. If your provider's report and ours reach the same conclusion, you now have independent confirmation. If they don't, you've learned something important.
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No. Market pricing is gathered without using your organization's name, and nothing in the process touches your existing relationships. Your incumbent learns about the review only if — and when — you decide to raise the findings with them.
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Periodic, documented benchmarking is exactly the ongoing-review evidence the fiduciary standard calls for — a full RFP is for selecting or replacing a provider, not for routine monitoring. Most sponsors benchmark every one to two years and reserve the RFP for when the benchmark, a service problem, or a plan change says it's warranted. If benchmarking is all your situation needs, that's what we'll tell you.
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That's a negotiating position, not a crisis. The most common next step is a fee discussion with your incumbent, with the report as the documented basis — and providers respond very differently to a data-backed independent comparison than to a general request for a discount. If the gap can't be closed or service issues run deeper, the report becomes the foundation for a RFP.
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Most benchmarking engagements complete in about 45 days. Your side of the work is mostly at the start — sharing current fee schedules and service agreements — and at the end, when we walk your committee through the findings. The market work in between is ours.
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Yes — every client we've ever worked with. 100% of Culpepper RFP clients can act as a reference. Once you're seriously evaluating an engagement, we'll connect you with organizations similar to yours, and what you ask them is up to you.
When Was Your Plan Last Benchmarked — and Is It in Writing?
If it's been more than two years — or the last benchmark came from a provider with a stake in the answer — schedule a call with Jay. You'll leave knowing whether benchmarking fits your situation and what the process would look like.