Federal Retirement: Use of Contractors to Implement the Federal Employees Retirement System

摘要

This General Accounting Office report examines the use of contractors and cost incurred by the principal agencies responsible for implementing the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-335). GAO also included in our study the extensive services that the principal agencies obtained from other federal agencies because of the significant costs for these services. The act provided a new retirement system for all federal civilian employees hired after December 1983 and an opportunity for about 2.1 million employees covered by existing retirement systems, primarily the Civilian Service Retirement System (CSRS), to transfer to FERS during a July through December 1987 open season. FERS provides benefits from three separate components, each administered by a different agency: 1) The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for the pension plan component; 2) The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for the Social Security component; and 3) The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is responsible for the thrift savings plan component. GAO's objectives were to determine the extent to which the three principal agencies used contractors and other agencies to assist them in implementing FERS, the cost of these services, and whether the agencies could have used their own employees and equipment to provide the products and services in a timely manner. (kr)