Case Study
Modernizing Retirement Benefits
Upgrading OPM’s 80+ legacy online annuity payment system to automatically process 73,000 applications and $81 Billion in annual transactions per year.
Introduction
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) serves as the chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager for the Federal government, and is responsible for setting and enforcing background check processes, HR policies and employee benefits. This includes the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, which covers most active, full-time civilian employees and retirees of the U.S. government, as well as their families. FEHB and its health insurance carriers provide benefits to nearly 8.3 million federal enrollees and dependents, offering a selection of more than 180 health plans.
Challenge
OPM faced ongoing challenges in its efforts to become a digital-first agency, including outdated systems and operational inefficiencies. Because the legacy FEHB system was very decentralized, spanning 80+ legacy systems, OPM needed to assess its current and future state to stand up a single, centralized system and support the annual open season enrollment process, manage carrier communications, reconcile transactions and report outcomes. OPM also needed to develop a new Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) program to cover a 1.7 million subset of FEHB as part of the Postal Service Reform Act.
Solution
CTEC was selected to lead the modernization effort for the FEHB program, which is the largest employer-sponsored health insurance program in the world. Our team was responsible for supporting the CIO, CFO and other OPM stakeholders with business analysis, change management and cost estimation for IT modernization, data migration, and operations and maintenance (O&M) in support of 80+ legacy systems. This included the Healthcare and Insurance Data Warehouse (HIDW), Multi-state Plan (MSP), Trust Fund Modernization (TFM), as well as the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) programs.
Results
CTEC leveraged its IT modernization capabilities developed in its Innovation Lab to provide Robotic Process Automation (RPA), AI and Machine Learning to modernize OPM’s online annuity payment system, a process representing over $81 Billion in annual transactions. Prior to modernization, OPM’s retirement systems took an average of 3 months to process an application. Now, CTEC’s unattended robots process 73,000 handwritten and digital applications per year, each within 2-3 days, which has resulted in 100% automated electronic delivery to customers that delivers data insights and analytics directly to their inbox.
Results
80+
legacy systems
73,000
applications
$81B
in transactions
Solution
- IT Modernization
- Robotic Process Automation
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Azure Cloud
- AI & Machine Learning
- Human-Centered Design
- Agile DevSecOps
Testimonials
“This is another step in the right direction for us as we look to modernize our financial management environment.”
Dennis Coleman
CFO, OPM
“CTEC’s human-centered design approach integrated HCD and security validations into their Agile DevSecOps framework which resulted in 100% automated electronic delivery to customers.”
CTEC Account Lead, OPM
Let's discuss your modernization needs.
