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A:  With vendors merging, exiting, rebranding, and evolving fast, keeping up with industry changes can be overwhelming. Yet these shifts can have real consequences for your plan’s service levels, costs, and vendor alignment over time. SBA actively tracks provider movement and market trends to help you make sense of what matters for your organization.

Consolidation isn’t just about M&A headlines. It changes how vendors operate behind the scenes. Some firms re-enter the market with entirely new delivery models, while others reduce their scope of services or shift focus without formally exiting. Offshoring strategies continue to evolve, and niche providers are growing in influence, sometimes offering better cultural or operational alignment for certain plans.

Even the RFP process itself looks different than it did just a few years ago as plan sponsors rethink their requirements around reporting, data security, AI capabilities, and the participant experience.

Understanding how these shifts intersect with your specific plan structure, service expectations, and long-term goals is key. SBA can help you assess those impacts and move forward with confidence—whether that means staying the course, revisiting your vendor strategy, or preparing for change.

A: Start by asking whether the issues are fixable or fundamental. If service gaps stem from breakdowns that can be addressed with the right structure and accountability, vendor recovery may be the better path. But if your vendor has lost your trust or can’t meet your long-term needs, it might be time to move on. SBA can help you make that determination.

When vendor issues begin to distract your HR team or trigger frequent employee complaints, it’s natural to question whether the relationship is still viable. While going out to bid may seem like the most straightforward fix, it often introduces new challenges—such as implementation costs, data transition risks, and potential service disruptions.

That’s why it’s worth considering vendor recovery first. This structured, third-party-led process identifies root causes on both sides and puts a plan in place to restore performance and rebuild trust. When it works, recovery can stabilize the relationship without the disruption of a full vendor transition.

However, not all relationships are salvageable. If your vendor consistently misses the mark, avoids accountability, or can’t align with your evolving needs—even after corrective efforts—it may be time to go to bid.

A: Start with clarity: What services do you need, and what outcomes are you expecting? Then create consistent evaluation criteria to compare vendors on more than just price. Look for alignment with your goals, delivery model, and values. Plan sponsors trust SBA to lead the full RFP process, from defining selection criteria to scoring vendor proposals and guiding final decisions.

Whether you're selecting a benefits administrator, a H&W broker/consultant, or an investment advisor, the fundamentals of smart vendor selection remain the same. It begins with defining your scope and success metrics. What does “good” look like for your team, your participants, and your stakeholders?

Once that’s established, objective, well-structured evaluation criteria help level the playing field. These criteria should reflect your priorities, from user experience and data integration to service model and scalability. That way, vendor comparisons aren’t just about cost—they’re about fit.

SBA has supported vendor evaluations across a wide range of HR and benefits functions. We help plan sponsors identify hidden risks, surface meaningful distinctions, and navigate site visits, demos, fee structures, and contracts with greater confidence. Our goal isn’t just to get you to a decision—it’s to help you make the right one.