Retirement System Upgrade Not So EZ

OPM continues to struggle to put in place an upgraded retirement record-keeping, processing and customer service system dubbed RetireEZ, according to GAO, which has put out a series of reports pointing out issues with the program. OPM launched the system last year but quickly took it offline after it discovered that the benefits calculator function was not working properly, an issue GAO had warned about but that OPM had downplayed. The latest report says that OPM has implemented only two of the planned eight capabilities of the system and that the other six were dependent on a contract that was terminated in light of the calculation problems. GAO said that OPM lacks a complete plan for getting those functions running. It also said that OPM still has "significant weaknesses" in a number of key management areas it called vital to the program, including lack of a cost estimating plan or a baseline for measuring the system’s performance, and said that until those issues are addressed, RetireEZ "remains at risk of failure." In its reply, OPM said it is working on those issues.