FY 2000
Budget Justification/Performance Plan
|
U.S. Office of Personnel
Management FY 2000 |
| (Transfers From The Trust Funds - continued) | |
| Additional Information Available on the Next Page |  |
RETIREMENT AND INSURANCE SERVICE
| RESOURCES | FY 1998 Actual |
FY 1999 Estimate |
FY 2000 Request |
FY 2000 Change |
|||
| Obligations | $105,270 |
$113,275 |
$108,307 |
($4,968) |
|||
| Annual Carryover Permanent Indefinite Authority, Title V No Year |
$87,148 |
$84,502 |
$84,752 |
250 |
|||
| Total Obligations | $105,270 |
$113,275 |
$104,307 |
($8,968) |
|||
| No-Year New Obligational Authority |
--- |
--- |
$4,000 |
$4,000 |
|||
| Full-Time Equivalents | 1,238 |
1,280 |
1,280 |
--- |
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The Retirement and Insurance Service (RIS) administers the Civil Service and Federal Employees Retirement programs; the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program; the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; and the Retired Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Its mission is to provide fast, friendly, accurate, and cost-efficient benefit services to Federal agencies, employees, annuitants, and their families. This mission is a vital part of the Government's effort to recruit and retain a Federal workforce equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Key components of the Retirement and Insurance Service are described below:
The Retirement Program acts as the personnel and payroll office for 2.4 million retired Federal workers and their survivors covered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). It makes benefit determinations in accordance with sound benefit policy and applicable laws and regulations, processes over 4 million workload items per year, ranging from the initial decision on eligibility and the amount of an annuity to recording changes in beneficiaries' addresses. Finally, it develops policies, regulations, and proposals to improve the competitiveness and administration of the Retirement Programs.
The Insurance Program negotiates and administers contracts with approximately 285 health insurance carriers and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to provide insurance benefits at a reasonable cost to eligible employees and annuitants enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Also, it conducts annual FEHB Open Seasons and FEGLI Open Seasons as required, monitors use and benefit trends within the health and life insurance industries, and implements program changes directed by the Administration and Congress. Finally, the Insurance Program decides disputed claims between FEHBP enrollees and carriers.
Through its Financial Management program, RIS maintains financial oversight and control over the OPM Retirement and Insurance Trust Funds and prepares accounting and program performance reports for the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, and Congress according to guidelines issued by the Chief Financial Officer. Also, it ensures that benefit program and administrative resources are used effectively, and continuously evaluates retirement and insurance products to determine if they meet established standards.
To fulfill these responsibilities, RIS recruitment efforts are targeted toward job competencies that support both the OPM and RIS missions, such as customer service and interpersonal skills, accounting and financial analysis, information technology, and benefits policy. As needed, RIS hires contractors to supplement its information technology staff. All of RIS’ mission critical and non-mission critical automated systems have been, or are being, renovated to meet Y2K-compliance standards, and RIS staff are being trained in-house in new standards and applications.
The Retirement and Insurance has identified six priorities for FY 2000 in support of the OPM priorities described in the Executive Summary.
Long-Term Care and New Life Insurance Products (RIS Goal 3) - The President has made long term care (LTC) one of his priorities for the FY 2000 Budget and is looking to OPM to serve as a model employer by making sound LTC products available to Federal employees and retirees. RIS has already responded and worked closely with staff from the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a legislative proposal to enable OPM to contract for these products. RIS expects to support the enactment of this important legislation in FY 1999 and to competitively select one or more LTC vendors sometime in FY 2000. RIS will then begin an extensive and intensive educational initiative and make the products available for purchase. RIS also anticipates implementing complementary enhancements to the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Program during FY 2000.
Quality-Driven Health Care (RIS Goal 9) - The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program continues to be widely cited as a model by other programs such as those for military retirees and Medicare. In FY 2000, RIS will continue to strengthen its leadership role in the health insurance industry by building and maintaining strong relationships with the National Commission for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the Department of Health and Human Services, the Foundation for Accountability (FACCT), and the Quality Inter-Agency Coordinating Task Force (QuIC). In addition, RIS will communicate additional qualitative information to consumers of FEHB Program products enabling them to make increasingly informed decisions in their selection of health plans. RIS communication strategy will become more tailored to individuals’ personal needs and situations with interactive products such as Web sites, compact discs and interactive voice response systems. Finally, RIS will continue to strengthen the Government’s health benefits program beyond the year 2000, including new ways of offering mental health benefits. These efforts will ensure that the FEHB Program continues to serve as a model for the Nation.
Retirement Systems Modernization (RIS Goal 15) - Retirement Systems Modernization is central to the Retirement and Insurance Service's efforts to meet its long term customer service, business process, and financial management goals. As the portion of the employee and annuitant populations covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) grows, the Service’s ability to make substantial and sustained progress in customer service will be diminished without fundamentally redesigned systems. Current business methods and automated systems do not effectively support FERS record-keeping and claims processing requirements and are built on an inflexible and outdated technological platform. During FYs 1998 and 1999, RIS and its business partners selected a new model for future operations and completed a comprehensive, detailed business reengineering effort, and will develop early, small scale system improvements. In FY2000 and over the next 5 to 7 years, RIS will begin developing and implementing the systems that will make its plans a reality.
Customer Service Improvements (RIS Goals 6, 12, and 13) - During FY 1999, RIS will provide all new retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System with personalized and detailed information regarding their retirement, health and life insurance benefits when they begin receiving their regular annuity checks. In FY 2000, RIS will expand this detailed and personalized information to survivor annuitants as well.
RIS also will make further enhancements to the benefit program Web pages by providing information directly affecting the benefits programs, including profiles of the myriad health benefits plans and a calculator for determining the cost of Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance coverage options. The Web site will be equipped with an interactive function that will allow retirees and survivors to execute a broad range of allotment and other transactions on their benefit payment accounts including starting, changing, and stopping their federal and state income tax withholdings, buying or canceling US savings bonds, requesting duplicate tax information or verification of income statements, and changing both payment and mailing addresses.
Finally, the Web site will provide agencies with new automated tools to improve retirement counseling for active employees. These tools will enable agency benefits officers and counselors to provide accurate, prospective annuity and survivor annuity estimates that will provide employees and their families with information for financial planning.
Financial Systems Improvements (RIS Goal 5) - Over the past several years, RIS has made significant investments in its financial management infrastructure to ensure the integrity of the employee earned benefit program Trust Funds. These initiatives have included increased oversight programs, installation of a new financial management system, and addressing material weaknesses in policy and procedures. RIS’ efforts have resulted in unqualified opinions on the Retirement and Life Insurance Program Trust Funds financial statements, directly supporting the Administration’s initiative to produce Governmentwide audited financial statements. During FY2000, RIS will continue to focus on eliminating identified material weaknesses including the integration of its financial subsystems with its new general ledger, and improved financial operations and procedures.
Additional Information Available on the Next Page
Web Page Created 14 May 1999