TSP travail

Some participants in the 401k-style Thrift Savings Plan are losing-or have already lost-their patience. Five years ago, the board that runs the TSP, which holds about $100 billion in federal employees' retirement nest eggs, announced that it would install a new computer system that would make the TSP much more customer-friendly, much like the 401k plans that private sector employees enjoy. TSP account balances would be updated each day and displayed as shares and sums of money. Transactions would be processed faster, and TSP participants would be able to carry out many transactions online. Installation of the new computer system was supposed to take three years and be completed by May 2000. But in January 2000, the TSP board announced a delay until that October. In June 2000, the board announced another delay until at least the following spring. Later in 2000, the board announced an indefinite delay. In July 2001, the board fired the original contractor for the modernization, Fairfax, Va.-based American Management Systems, and hired a new contractor, Alexandria, Va.-based Materials, Communication & Computers Inc. The new contractor had to start virtually from scratch. In May, the board announced that the new system would be ready in September. But this week, the board said it was pushing back the launch again, this time to November. The TSP board paid AMS $50 million (which it is trying to recover) and is scheduled to pay the new contractor $22 million. TSP Executive Director Roger Mehle says the board wants to make sure the new system is totally reliable before they put it into operation. Still, TSP participants are fed up with the delays.

• "I'm glad these people don't run the military because if they did, we would be in real trouble," said a Federal Emergency Management Agency employee.
• "In my estimation, every one of the board members should be replaced because of their ineptness and the contractors. They have cost employees millions of dollars," an Agriculture Department employee said.
• "Like many others invested in TSP, I have accounts with other organizations and those accounts have been computerized for years. I have difficulty understanding why TSP cannot hire the right people for the task," another Agriculture Department employee said.
• "Don't be surprised when there is another delay. The words 'incompetent management' readily come to mind when looking at the administration of the TSP," a Veterans Affairs Department worker said.

Same Open Season

Despite the delay in the computer system modernization, the next TSP open season will run from Oct. 15 to Dec. 31, a month earlier than it has run in previous years. The spring open season will also be bumped up a month. It will run from April 15 to June 30. During the open season, TSP participants can change the amount of their contributions to their accounts. For 2003, employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System will be able to contribute up to 13 percent of their basic pay each pay period to the TSP, up to an annual limit of $12,000. Employees under the Civil Service Retirement System will be able to contribute up to 8 percent of their basic pay each pay period up to the annual limit. The limits for 2002 are 12 percent for FERS employees and 7 percent for CSRS employees up to an annual limit of $11,000.

More Pay at INS

The Bush administration and Congress have responded to retention problems at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (See Marshal Draw from the August issue of Government Executive) by raising the pay of Border Patrol agents and immigration inspectors. Agents and inspectors who have been at the GS-9 pay level ($34,451 basic pay at Step 1) for at least a year saw their pay go up on Aug. 11 to the GS-11 level ($41,684 basic pay at Step 1). "This upgrade is fair and equitable, and ensures that our officers and agents are on par with other law enforcement officers on the frontline of our homeland defense," INS Commissioner James Ziglar said in a memorandum to agents and inspectors. The boost matches a similar raise for some Customs Service officers earlier this year. Across government, law enforcement officials are trying to boost the pay of their officers to keep them from going to other agencies, most notably the Federal Air Marshal Program at the Transportation Department.