Performance
How do your results compare?
Evaluate returns against relevant benchmarks and comparable institutional portfolios, with context for the period and mandate.
Independent review · Informed by OCIO Analytics
Independent OCIO & Investment Consultant Review.
Understand the performance, risks, and costs behind your current investment program. Alpha combines independent institutional judgment with OCIO Analytics to help your board or committee assess its existing provider and decide what comes next.
A review is a standalone engagement. Findings may support continuing your current relationship, addressing specific concerns, or considering alternatives.
Independent review · Informed by OCIO Analytics
A clearer view of your current investment program.
Understand the results, risks, and costs behind your current OCIO or investment consultant relationship.
Alpha combines institutional judgment with OCIO Analytics to turn portfolio comparisons into useful questions and practical next steps for your committee.
Asset allocation
What is driving the portfolio?
Examine the mix of assets, compare allocations with relevant peers, and consider the institution’s objectives and liquidity needs.
Portfolio risk
Does the risk fit the mandate?
Put returns in the context of portfolio risk and assess whether the risks taken align with the institution’s priorities.
Dispersion
Where do outcomes diverge?
Understand the range of results among comparable portfolios and where the institution falls within that range.
Fees
How do costs compare?
Compare advisory fees with relevant peers and examine the services and underlying expenses behind the total cost.
A review can support staying with your provider, addressing specific concerns, or exploring alternatives.
See how the review works →The evidence behind your review
Proprietary institutional data. Independent judgment.
OCIO Analytics helps put your portfolio in context through institutional performance, allocation, risk, dispersion, and fee comparisons.
Alpha interprets that evidence alongside your objectives, liquidity needs, provider service, and governance. The agreed scope and the availability of comparable information guide the analysis.
Explore OCIO Analytics →Possible outcomes
The recommendation follows the evidence.
The review is designed to distinguish correctable relationship issues from deeper questions of capability, alignment, or market competitiveness.
Confirm the relationship still fits
Document where the incumbent remains aligned with the institution’s mandate, governance, service needs, and expectations—and define how the relationship should be monitored going forward.
Address specific gaps without changing providers
Identify the service, staffing, reporting, fee, governance, conflict, or contract issues that should be clarified or renegotiated with the incumbent.
Determine whether broader diligence is warranted
Establish the evidence for a focused market check, RFI, or full search and carry the institution’s priorities into a defensible comparison process.
The review process
A focused path to a decision.
The sequence is designed to move from institution-specific questions to evidence, context, and action. Exact timing and participation are confirmed before the engagement begins.
Define
Define the decision
Confirm why the review is happening, what would justify change, which questions must be answered, who should participate, and how the institution will use the findings.
Gather
Collect the evidence
Review governance documents, agreements, service materials, reports, performance and risk information, fee data, prior reviews, and other available relationship records.
Analyze
Analyze with OCIO Analytics
Evaluate performance, asset allocation, portfolio risk, dispersion, and fees against relevant institutional context where data permits. Combine the analysis with the institution’s objectives and evidence about provider service and governance.
Recommend
Deliver the recommendation
Present findings, decision rationale, priority actions, and a board-ready recommendation to stay, renegotiate, or test the market.
Decision-ready output
A recommendation the committee can use.
The work product is designed to make the basis for the decision visible—not simply deliver a consultant’s conclusion.
Findings distinguish verified evidence, stakeholder observations, matters requiring clarification, and areas where comparison is limited by unavailable or non-comparable information.
Potential deliverables
Built around the decision in scope
- A concise executive assessment of the current relationship
- A documented scorecard tied to institution-specific priorities
- Performance, risk, fee, service, and market context where evidence permits
- A prioritized list of issues to preserve, clarify, or change
- A board- or committee-ready decision package
- A practical next-step plan for oversight, negotiation, or market testing
Common questions
Before beginning an independent review.
Does an OCIO Relationship Review assume the institution should replace its incumbent?
No. The purpose is to make the decision more informed and defensible. The review can support staying with the incumbent, renegotiating specific parts of the relationship, or testing the market.
Does the review require a full RFP?
No. A full RFP is only one possible next step. Depending on the evidence and the institution’s policies, the appropriate action may be improved oversight, a focused negotiation, a limited market check, an RFI, or a full search.
Will the incumbent be involved?
That depends on the institution’s objectives and the scope of the review. The process can include a structured request for information or discussion with the incumbent when doing so will clarify facts and improve the decision.
How long does the review take?
Timing is confirmed during scoping and depends on committee schedules, portfolio complexity, the questions being examined, and the quality of available records.
What information does Alpha typically review?
The evidence set may include the investment policy, delegation and governance documents, service agreement, reports, performance and risk data, fee schedules, portfolio information, meeting materials, prior evaluations, and interviews with relevant stakeholders.
Can Alpha run a search if market testing is recommended?
Yes. A broader OCIO or investment consultant search would be a separately defined engagement. Alpha does not provide OCIO services or compete for the provider mandate.
A clearer decision starts with the right question
Decide what the incumbent relationship needs next.
Share the issue your board or committee is trying to resolve. Alpha can help determine whether a focused relationship review is the appropriate first step.