(a) The contracts or agreements effecting the appointment of any trustee, independent consultant, administrative service agency, financial organization or firm of certified public accountants to provide services in respect of a plan shall be awarded pursuant to the procedures set forth in this Part and shall comply with the requirements of this Subtitle. Contracts or agreements with administrative service agencies shall not be required in whole or in part if an appointed trustee or financial organization, in the opinion of the board or of the deferred compensation committee, as applicable, is able to perform all or a portion of the required services as effectively. Contracts or agreements with independent consultants shall not be required in whole or in part if, in the opinion of the board or of the deferred compensation committee, as applicable, such board or deferred compensation committee is able to effectively make decisions with respect to the investment of plan assets, the allocation of plan assets among financial organizations and the selection of financial organizations to invest the assets of a plan without the advice of a consultant. Upon the expiration or termination of any contract or agreement entered into in accordance with this Subtitle, the board or deferred compensation committee, as applicable, shall follow the procedures set forth in this Part in awarding new contracts and entering into new agreements. Unless they are entered into in accordance with the procedures set forth in this Part and are in all other respects in substantial compliance with the requirements of this Subtitle, all contracts or agreements entered into in respect of a plan shall be null and void and new competitive proposals shall be submitted pursuant to the procedures set forth in this Part. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, no trustee who is the only trustee of a plan shall be forced to resign the position of trustee solely by operation of this section prior to the time such person’s successor as trustee has been duly qualified and appointed.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of this section, a deferred compensation committee may contract with a firm of certified public accountants selected as a result of a competitive proposal undertaken by the local employer that expressly included in the scope of services an audit of the deferred compensation plan sponsored by the local government to be conducted in compliance with section 9005.1 of this Part. The competitive request for proposals must be in general compliance with section 9003.2 of this Part, except for the requirement of notice in the State Register. The deferred compensation committee must adhere to the criteria contained in section 9003.3 of this Part in the selection of such auditor made pursuant to this subdivision. A firm of certified public accountants selected by a deferred compensation committee pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to the provisions of section 9003.5 of this Part. The firm of certified public accountants may be the same firm that is under contract with the local employer for other auditing services of the local employer.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of this section, the board or a deferred compensation committee may contract with a financial organization for the purposes of investing a portion of the assets of a plan selected as a result a search conducted by the independent consultant to the board or deferred compensation committee of financial organizations that provide such services. The board or deferred compensation committee shall provide direction to the independent consultant, in writing, designating the generally recognized investment classification and sub-classification that the independent consultant is to make a recommendation to the board or deferred compensation committee after the conduct of a search of qualified financial organizations and the number of financial organizations that is to be recommended, which number shall not be less than three. The independent consultant must adhere to the criteria contained in section 9003.3 of this Part prior to recommending any financial organization to the board or deferred compensation committee. The independent consultant must recommend at least the number of financial organizations requested by the board or deferred compensation committee in each generally accepted investment classification and sub-classification and a detailed analysis of each financial organization being recommended, including a comparison of such recommended financial organization to the appropriate and generally recognized benchmarks for such investment classification and sub-classification. The board or deferred compensation committee may select one or more financial organizations for the purposes of investing a portion of the assets of a plan from the recommendation of the independent consultant. The provisions of this subdivision apply to the board and any deferred compensation committee that enters into contracts with financial organizations separately from any other contracts or agreements effecting the appointment of any trustee, independent consultant, administrative service agency, or firm of certified public accountants to provide services in respect of a plan.