U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

In Carrier Letter 2004-08, we told you about the Federal Government's e-Payroll initiative and the consolidation of agency payroll functions into four payroll providers. This letter informs you of additional payroll office migrations under e-Payroll.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is migrating their payroll functions to the Department of Defense, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). Effective March 20, 2005, DFAS will assume payroll responsibilities for HHS employees currently accounted for under various payroll office numbers beginning with 7501 (75010002; 75010005; 75010006; 75010037; 75010054; 75010098, etc.). HHS employees will be accounted for under DFAS payroll office number 97381500.

The address for the new payroll office is:
Defense Finance and Accounting Service - Charleston
Civilian Payroll Office
PO Box 33717
Pensacola, FL 32508-3717

The DFAS contact for the new payroll office is:
Christine Frazier
Phone Number: 843-746-6495

The Department of Labor (DoL), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) are migrating their payroll functions to the Department of Agriculture, National Finance Center (NFC).

Effective March 6, 2005, NFC will assume payroll responsibilities for FERC employees currently accounted for under payroll office number 89021201. FERC employees will be accounted for under NFC payroll office number 12400001.

Effective April 3, 2005, NFC will assume payroll responsibilities for DoL employees currently accounted for under payroll office number 16010001. DoL employees will be accounted for under NFC payroll office number 12400001. Please note that this payroll office migration only impacts DoL employees. Claimants under the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) who are enrolled in FEHB are not involved in the migration. These individuals will continue to be accounted for under OWCP payroll office numbers.

Also effective April 3, 2005, NFC will assume payroll responsibilities for OTS employees currently accounted for under payroll office number 20740001. OTS employees will be accounted for under NFC payroll office number 12400001.

FERC, DoL, and OTS will also send you letters explaining that NFC will be their payroll provider.

It is extremely important to the FEHB enrollment reconciliation process through the Centralized Enrollment Reconciliation Clearinghouse system (CLER) that all carriers who have enrollees serviced by these payroll offices effect the appropriate changes in their premium and enrollment accounting systems on the dates provided.

The new payroll office numbers for HHS, FERC, DoL, and OTS employees must be in place and reported to CLER for the second quarter 2005 reconciliation cycle. The second quarter 2005 data reflects your enrollment records as of June 1, 2005. If the current payroll office numbers are reported with the June 1, 2005 data, every HHS, FERC, DoL, and OTS employee will be identified as a discrepancy since DFAS and NFC will report the new payroll office numbers.

Be careful not to report the new payroll office numbers on your submission to CLER for the first quarter 2005 reconciliation cycle. The first quarter 2005 data reflects your enrollment records as of March 1, 2005, prior to the payroll migrations. If the new payroll office numbers are reported with the March 1, 2005 data, every HHS, FERC, DoL, and OTS employee will be identified as a discrepancy since the agencies will report their current payroll office numbers.

Finally, on October 25, 2004, the U.S. Department of State issued a memo to all FEHB Program carriers concerning changes in their payroll office numbers. A copy of the memo is enclosed. These changes were to be made immediately, with the new payroll office numbers reported to CLER for the fourth quarter 2004 reconciliation cycle. If you haven't made these changes, please do so immediately.

When we are informed of additional payroll office migrations, we will pass the information on to you. If you have any questions on e-Payroll or the payroll office consolidation process, please contact either Eric Figg or Jay Fritz of my staff. Eric can be reached at 202-606-4083 or eric.figg@opm.gov. Jay can be reached at 202-606-4148 or jay.fritz@opm.gov.

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