OPM Seal U.S. Office of Personnel Management

FY 2000
Budget Justification/Performance Plan

(Transfers From The Trust Funds - continued)
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OPM STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL III:  provide advice and assistance to help Federal agencies improve their human resources management programs to effectively operate within the economy, demographics and environment of the 21st century.

FY 2000 Resource Summary:

Obligations (000): $1,583

Full-Time Equivalents: 23
  • By the year 2000, improve agency administration of the earned benefit programs so that (a) 80% of all retirement submissions are received within 30 days of employee retirement dates, (b) most retirement application packages are ready for processing upon receipt at OPM, and (c) employees receive from their agency complete and timely retirement counseling and services pertinent to the earned benefit programs.

RIS will continue as a leader in providing high quality information about Federal benefits and the interrelationships of Federal earned benefits programs, and improve the administration of these programs through the agencies and other business partners. To accomplish this, RIS will expand its initiatives to use technology to improve the quality of information that is available to its customers--agency benefits officers, benefits contractors, and Federal employees -- and to develop tools that allow agency benefits officers to focus on the value added components of their jobs, such as employee counseling and making determinations affecting benefits administration, rather than serving only as a conduit for information dissemination and a processor of paperwork.

RIS Goal 6
FY 1999/2000:		 Benefits information is more easily available to both agency benefits officers and employees, and is written in Plain Language.
Means Blue Arrow Head  RIS will continue the development of tools like the Benefits Center CD-ROM that allow employees to have direct access to information that helps them become informed about their benefits and make sound decisions.
Blue Arrow Head  RIS will update and enhance the Benefits Center to make it interactive and allow users to obtain more personally tailored information.
Blue Arrow Head  Decision support systems that provide benefits officers with the information they need when they need it will be developed by RIS and deployed through the OPM Web site.
Blue Arrow Head  RIS will acquire the services of a communications specialist to recast in Plain Language the CSRS and FERS Handbook, RIS pamphlets, and other informational materials and make them available in a variety of formats such as web access, CD-ROM, and hard copy, depending on customer needs.
    
Indicators/Performance Results Blue Arrow Head   Responsiveness to sudden changes in policy direction is demonstrated.

During FY 1998, RIS showed its ability to adapt to sudden change by meeting the tight deadline set by Congress to conduct a CSRS to FERS Open Season. Within 4 months, it provided comprehensive guidance to agency personnel officers and benefit counselors, revised and published a new FERS Transfer Handbook, and constructed a FERS Opportunities Web site that as of May 15 had been accessed by over one quarter of a million users.

Blue Arrow Head   Technical assistance needs of agency benefit counselors and employees are met.

RIS produced three 90-minute interactive satellite broadcasts to provide agency benefit counselors and employees with up-to-the-minute information about Open Season issues.
Blue Arrow Head  Increase agency HR Specialists’ satisfaction with information sharing, technical assistance, and guidance materials regarding the employee benefits programs.

To establish an indication of the increased availability of such information, RIS used the results of the FY 1999 OPM Customer Satisfaction Survey to determine HR specialist satisfaction with certain program areas where improvements in information sharing and technical assistance were made. Also, satisfaction with several specific products that were re-published during FY 1998 was determined, as shown below.

Program Area

Information Sharing

Technical Assistance
FEHB Open Season 93% 90%
FEGLI Coverage 93% 89%

Guidance Materials
Benefits Center CD-ROM 72%
FEGLI Handbook 91%
CSRS/FERS Handbook 94%

 
Blue Arrow Head  For FY 2000, RIS will use the Survey for other similar initiatives and products, and to determine the extent to which HR Specialists find benefits information is (a) easily accessed via the Web, CD-ROM, and other electronic media, and (b) that this information is easy to read and understand.

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Web Page Created 14 May 1999