TSP officials ask lawmakers to end open seasons

Thrift Savings Plan officials said Monday that "open seasons" are outdated and appealed to lawmakers to end the restrictive enrollment and contribution adjustment windows.

The TSP currently holds two open seasons annually, during which federal employees can join the fund and begin to receive matching contributions from their agencies or adjust the amount they are saving each pay period. The open seasons scheduled for 2004 are April 15 through June 30 and Oct. 15 through Dec. 31. TSP Board Chairman Andrew Saul told lawmakers Monday that "the board supports eliminating open seasons because it would expand participant access to the TSP and simplify plan administration."

Saul and TSP Executive Director Gary Amelio said that open seasons were helpful when the plan was in its infancy because of the "structure" they provided. The plan no longer needs the open seasons and they are, they added, hampering federal employees from making investment decisions.

"They are no longer useful in a daily-valued plan environment," Saul said. "Indeed, they restrict the opportunity for employees to make contribution elections."

Saul said the seasons also delay agencies from matching contributions for new TSP members.

The Employee Thrift Advisory Council supported the move.

"Open seasons made sense when the FRTIB was a new agency just getting started, and lacked the administrative capability to quickly enroll participants and to implement investment elections on a real-time basis," said Council Chairman James Sauber. "Eliminating the TSP open season is perhaps the single best way to reach that 13 percent of [Federal Employee Retirement System] employees who still do not make contributions to the TSP."

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the TSP, said that he was committed to helping the savings plan resolve its legislative issues.