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NARFE President Reacts to OPM’s Strategic IT Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact: Jessica Klement
 March 11, 2014 703-838-7760
  jklement@narfe.org

Alexandria, VA – Today, the Office of Personnel Management released its Strategic IT Plan. NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin released the following statement in response:

“Today, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) unveiled its promised and much-anticipated Information Technology (IT) strategic plan. OPM’s IT infrastructure has long lagged behind the times, and previous modernization efforts have failed. We appreciate the new approach Director Archuleta is taking to deliver better services to federal agencies, employees and retirees.

“After careers dedicated to public service, federal retirees should not have to wait months, sometimes even years, to receive their full annuities. With the expected retirement wave beginning to break, modernization is crucial to ensuring new retirees receive their full annuity shortly after their retirement date. Retirees and survivors should not have to endure long waits to receive answers to simple questions, which is currently the situation.

“The move to a completely electronic system is the first step in processing claims in a timely manner. Although retirement applications cannot yet be submitted online, and while we recognize that certain steps must be taken before online filing is an option, we feel strongly this should be made a higher priority.
 
“Key to the success of the new plan is adequate funding from Congress. Almost all of OPM’s major initiatives require additional appropriations for both OPM and federal agencies. Successful implementation will ultimately save money in the long run, as electronics replace paper processing and manual data entry. NARFE encourages congressional oversight of the modernization process to ensure money is spent wisely. Additionally, we encourage OPM to post its progress in meeting the goals laid out in its new strategic plan, much as it does for retirement processing.”

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The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), one of America’s oldest and largest associations, was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. The largest federal employee/retiree organization, NARFE represents the retirement interests of nearly five million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors