Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has reupped with Barclays Global Investors as the investment manager for five of the Thrift Savings Plan's investment options. Barclays was the incumbant manager for each of the five indexed core funds in the plan.

The TSP is the nation's largest defined contribution with $186 billion in assets and 3.6 million participants. It covers all eligible federal workers.

The Board also awarded Watson Wyatt a $215,124 mandate to survey TSP participants. That project, which is intended to provided statistical information about TSP participant concerns and establish a long-term process to record the evolution of participant attitudes, is expected to be completed by the end of the year and is being managed by the Government Printing Office.

"This [survey] will be very helpful in identifying trends and preparing to meet future needs," Gary A. Amelio, the Board's executive director.

The RFP for the manager slots were issued in May and were part of a regular review of the TSP's vendors. Barclays was re-awarded the mandates for the Common Stock Index Investment (C) Fund, the Small Capitalization Stock Index Investment (S) Fund, the International Stock Index Investment (I) Fund, and the Fixed Income Index Investment (F).

The Board did not reveal the identity of the other firms considered during the search, but .

"I was most impressed and gratified by the strong competition for this business by many very qualified vendors. Their efforts were a credit to their firms, and demonstrate that this market place remains very capable of producing products of the highest quality for a very fair price. This assures that our participants, who pay for the costs of TSP administration, will receive exceptional value in return," stated Amelio. 

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