The Office of Personnel Management is giving agencies less than a month to start submitting all new retirement applications for federal employees electronically, moving away from a largely paper-based system.
In a Wednesday memo, OPM acting Director Charles Ezell gave agencies that are served by the National Finance Center and Interior Business Center — two federal shared services providers offering HR support — a deadline of June 2 to start processing retirements electronically. According to the memo, OPM will facilitate applications via the Online Retirement Application effective July 15 and won’t accept paper filings.
The federal retirement system managed by OPM has in the past faced criticism for its delays. In 2019, the Government Accountability Office identified reliance on paper-based and manual processing as among the reasons for the lack of speed. While there have long been efforts to modernize that system, it has yet to go fully electronic.
Now, President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has taken an interest in the system. Elon Musk called it out specifically in an Oval Office press conference in February, describing the “mine” where the paper records are kept and manual processing. “The elevator breaks down sometimes and then … nobody can retire,” Musk said.
