Facelift of TSP Web site stays on schedule

Thrift Savings Plan officials on Monday said they are on track to debut a more user-friendly Web site in 2010, following a trial run this fall.

A beta version of the redesigned Web site will be available in the fall to a random sample of participants who log on to the current site, officials said during the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board's monthly meeting. TSP Director Gregory Long expects to have the upgraded version online in the first quarter of 2010, depending on comments from users.

The redesigned site will include a section to guide TSP participants through life-changing events such as relocation or marriage. The site also will offer enhanced access to individual account profiles and a revamped retirement calculator, according to TSP administrators.

"It's going to be a very drastic change," said Pamela Jeanne Moran, deputy director of external affairs for TSP, during the meeting.

The redesign is part of a broader technological upgrade. Other projects include improving the plan's computer network and backup capabilities to prepare for "unexpected needs driven by crisis," according to a report from TSP officials to the board.

Also during Monday's meeting, the chief executive officers of Barclays Global Investors and BlackRock Inc. discussed with the TSP board the planned merger of the two investment giants. Barclays is currently the investment manager for the TSP, and is nearing the end of a three-year contract, with an option to extend for another year.

Tom Trabucco, the TSP board's external affairs director, said a merger would likely have little effect on the retirement plan's participants. The plan's investment management firm has been through two mergers before, he noted, and has kept many of the same managers in the San Francisco office.

In his presentation, Chief Executive Officer Laurence Fink said BlackRock had a history of sound investment and risk management, and it focuses solely on investment management to avoid conflicts of interest. Once the merger is complete, the new company will be one of the largest investment managers in the country.