OCIO Due Diligence Questionnaire: How Leita's Annual DDQ Works

An OCIO due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) is a standard set of questions that outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) firms answer once and update over time, so a search consultant has a current record of each firm before any search begins. Leita Advisory, an independent OCIO search consultant, runs its DDQ every year and draws on it in every search.

The OCIO market keeps growing. Cerulli Associates projects US OCIO assets will exceed $4 trillion in 2028, and dozens of credible firms now offer different models, capabilities and approaches. For a committee, the hard part is working out which of them fits its institution.

Search consultants vary in how they structure a search, how much investment expertise they bring, and what they weigh when they evaluate candidates. We believe a committee is best served by a search partner who knows the current market well: which firms should be considered, how each firm structures investments and client service, and which clients it serves best. That's why our OCIO due diligence process starts well before an RFP goes out.

We do due diligence with OCIO firms year-round and track how they change, so when a client starts a search, the groundwork is done. We visit OCIOs on site regularly and sometimes post field notes from those visits on LinkedIn. Leita's annual OCIO DDQ is the center of that work.

Why we moved beyond an RFP-led search

When Anna launched Leita, she asked OCIOs and investment committees across the country what was working in the OCIO search process and what wasn't. We heard the same three things:

• RFPs ask for information that doesn't help a committee decide

• OCIOs spend weeks on RFP responses without knowing whether anyone reads them

• Committees end up buried in data

Our answer was to build the due diligence file before the search starts.

OCIO RFP vs. DDQ

An OCIO request for proposal (RFP) is written for one client during a live search. The search firm starts from a template or question bank, adds questions that fit that institution, and gives firms a few weeks to respond in full.

An OCIO due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) is a standard set of questions that firms answer once and keep current. It covers much of the same ground as an RFP. Firms update it from year to year, and we draw on it in every search.

Much of that information rarely changes. If a firm was a registered investment advisor with the SEC yesterday, it's almost certainly registered today and will be tomorrow. Asking that question again in every RFP adds nothing. With the basics already on file, each Leita search spends its time on the information a committee needs to make a choice.

Case study: the VIP RFP

Our founder, Anna Dunn Tabke, once ran a search for a high-profile foundation tied to a world-famous person. Every OCIO invited brought its A-game, with customized, personal responses. One firm told her, "Everyone at our firm is watching this one." It was the best set of RFP responses she has ever seen.

Most RFPs don't get that kind of attention. We recently spoke with one OCIO who had 32 RFPs due on a single day. Standard RFP workflows are built to keep a project moving on a short timeline, and 40 pages of boilerplate questions leave little time to tailor anything to the client.

That raised a question: could our search process let OCIOs treat every client like a VIP?

Leita's search process is designed to do that. OCIOs get the same amount of time to respond to a client search, and they spend it on the topics that client cares about. There's still an RFP, shorter and written around the client's long-term needs. Paired with the DDQ, it gives the committee a prudent process and a complete evaluation.

How Leita's DDQ works

Leita's DDQ is a single questionnaire, updated every year. In our first year, Leita completed 22 projects for organizations across the country, representing $13 billion in assets, and 70 OCIO providers completed the DDQ.

This document covers what a committee needs to know about a firm before meeting it:

• firm basics, including assets and client profile

• governance structure and service model

• investment philosophy, approach and capabilities

• people and process

• performance

• operations, risk controls, compliance and cybersecurity

Some of these topics decide hires. Cybersecurity and insurance limits rarely do, because committees expect any institutional OCIO to meet industry standards. We still confirm them before we put a firm forward for a client mandate. Trust, but verify.

We use the answers to learn each firm's investment approach, capabilities and client relationships, and to match them to what an institution needs. That gets a committee to a shorter, more relevant candidate list faster. A large, complex endowment with direct private investments needs an OCIO built to deliver. A small organization may rely on the OCIO for more than just investments, or benefit from an operationally streamlined solution. The DDQ shows us which firms are which before a search begins.

Written responses are where our analysis starts. They shape our follow-up questions and our conversations with each firm. With the basics on file, each client's RFP can focus on that institution: how a firm would manage its portfolio, work with its committee and staff, and meet its specific needs. Those answers tell a committee which capable provider is the right partner for it.

Open to every OCIO firm, every year

Leita doesn't work from a fixed list of preferred providers. Any firm that provides fiduciary OCIO or non-discretionary investment consulting services to institutional clients can complete the DDQ, and new firms join every cycle. We believe in finding the right OCIO partner for each institution, so we keep our door open to new ideas and new firms.

When a client asks us to look at a firm, including a local or regional provider we haven't evaluated, that firm goes through the same process. Every firm in a search completes the same questionnaire, incumbents included, so each one is evaluated on the same basis. Our OCIO search and selection page shows how candidates move through each phase.

For more information, see Leita Advisory Opens 2026 OCIO Due Diligence Cycle.

If you’re considering an OCIO search, or want an independent look at your current OCIO, start a conversation with us.