OPM replaces head of electronic pension system project
The FAA’s Thomas O’Keefe steps in as the last contract is being awarded and the system gets going.
The Office of Personnel Management this week brought in an outsider to replace the head of a project that will turn thousands of paper records into electronic files to speed the processing of federal pensions.
Thomas O'Keefe replaced Lorraine Dettman as director of the Retirement Systems Modernization initiative. O'Keefe came from the Federal Aviation Administration, where he directed the Office of Information Technology Optimization and Performance Tracking.
The modernization effort is OPM Director Linda Springer's pet project. The goal is to authorize requests for new retirement benefits within five days and achieve at least 95 percent accuracy in payments. Right now, many federal retirees wait months for OPM to calculate their annuity payment. In the meantime, they receive an estimated payment that is often much less than what they are owed.
"Tom has a proven track record in the areas of strategic planning, program management and IT asset management, and in merging these disciplines in the pursuit of a desired goal," Springer said.
A spokesman for OPM said Dettman will stay on at the agency with other duties, and emphasized Springer's satisfaction with her work to date. He also said although Dettman headed up the modernization efforts, O'Keefe is the first official director.
O'Keefe's appointment comes "at a critical juncture," the spokesman said, which requires certain experience. The last of three contracts for the initiative is scheduled to be awarded in the coming months.
In May, OPM gave Hewitt Associates of Lincolnshire, Ill., a 10-year, $290 million deal for an electronic personnel records system. A few weeks later, OPM awarded the global consulting firm Accenture a $40 million, four-year contract to develop business transformation and information technology models for the transfer to such a system.
The third contract, initially scheduled for award in August, will provide the actual conversion of paper records into the electronic realm. The entire process, OPM said, will not be complete until 2010.
House lawmakers denied the $27 million budget request for the system, but the Senate Appropriations Committee included the funding in its version of the fiscal 2007 Transportation-Treasury spending bill, and OPM officials have said they hope the Senate position will prevail on the floor and in conference negotiations.
Dan Adock, legislative director of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said he has been satisfied with OPM's progress to date under Dettman, and highly applauds Springer for her commitment to this issue. Many NARFE members call with "horror stories" of waiting months for full pension payments and not being able to make ends meet.
O'Keefe, a former Navy officer, earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in engineering management from The George Washington University.