By Jessie Bur

Federal employees planning to retire may soon have the option to complete the requirements using an online system, rather than through the paper format most widely used across the U.S. government.

Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja told reporters on an Aug. 4 call that the agency will pilot an online retirement application system to address some short-term problems with the federal retirement system, namely slow processing times.

Modernization of the federal retirement system has been a central priority for OPM directors for more than a decade, but retiring feds still have to work through a clunky and often slow paper-based system.

Currently, feds are expected to submit paper forms to their employing agency two months before their planned retirement date. The agency then compiles a retirement package for that employee and verifies all essential information, before electronically submitting and physically mailing a copy of that package to OPM, which does its own calculations and verifications before approving the application.

“Long term, we need to put in a pretty robust strategic plan, and there hasn’t been one in retirement services since 2012. That’s just going to take multiple years, and I’m committed to do that.”

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