• OPM is looking to computerize its records storage.file image by Byron Moore from Fotolia.com
  
  For over 10 years, retiring federal employees have complained that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been slow in providing employees with correct calculations of their retirement benefits, has been up to six months late in sending initial payments to new retirees, and has sent incorrect payments to many retirees.
  
  Two causes have been identified: the lack of a practical electronic calculator and the need for a central electronic record depository for employee retirement information. The solution is a new computer system for retirement benefits.
  
  

Manual Calculations

• The average time for a retiree in the federal pension system to have his benefits calculated is five to 40 days. This is because the calculations are done by hand. Many calculations have proved incorrect when done manually. Some retirees receive less in benefits than they're entitled to; others receive too much and then have to pay back the overage with interest.
  
  

Record Storage

• OPM also has said that employee retirement information is stored in paper files, not electronically. Many career government employees have worked in several agencies. To calculate their benefits, their files related to retirement benefits must be collected manually. Information-gathering alone can take months, and even then it is often incomplete.
  
  

Computerization

• To resolve these problems, OPM is developing an electronic retirement calculator and moving records to electronic storage. The agency says it will take over a year, at an unknown cost, to transfer the right files to electronic management.