Federal Digitization: Workforce to Receive Retirement Checks in Under a Month

People typically have to wait for three to five months on average to get retirement checks under the current paper-based system, according to DOGE.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington on Feb. 14, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) plans to roll out a paperless, fully digital retirement application system across the government starting next month, OPM said in a May 7 memorandum to the heads of various agencies.

In a May 9 post on social media platform X, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) called the effort a “collaboration win” by DOGE and OPM, saying the digitization of the retirement system is happening “after 35+ years of failed modernization attempts.”

The digitization marks an end to the OPM’s decades-old paper system for retirement.

“This will reduce the average time people wait to receive their retirement check from 3-5 months to less than 1 month,” DOGE said.

The memorandum criticized legacy systems as “outdated technology” that has “delayed retirements and frustrated employees who have dedicated their careers to public service.”

America’s federal workforce “deserves a retirement process that matches the demands of the 21st century,” it said.

“Effective June 2, 2025, all new retirement applications started on this date or later, along with any supporting documents, must be submitted electronically. For these and all future applications, any newly created paper retirement packages will not be accepted,” it said.

Paper applications shall be sent to the respective agencies to be resubmitted digitally.

OPM cited the Jan. 20 presidential action issued by President Donald Trump—“Establishing and Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency.”

The action established DOGE to implement the presidential agenda of modernizing federal technology and software to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

DOGE has been “closely working” with the Retirement Services team at OPM to create a fully digital process that “dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes to process retirement applications, providing a more efficient and improved experience to federal employees,” the memo said.

Three months ago, OPM had processed the first “entirely digital retirement application.” This was followed by “continued advancements and testing,” which has now culminated in the government-wide rollout of the new system.

The memo announced that training and onboarding assistance for the digital transition will be available to all participating agencies.

Digitizing Federal Processes

In a Feb. 12 post on X, DOGE revealed the archaic way in which the current paper-based retirement system functions.

“Federal employee retirements are processed using paper, by hand, in an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania,” it said.

“700+ mine workers operate 230 feet underground to process ~10,000 applications per month, which are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes. The retirement process takes multiple months.”

Multiple attempts to modernize the system were made in the past, all of which ended up in failure, according to a 2012 report from the Government Accountability Office.

In 1987, the agency began a program called the FERS Automated Processing System for this purpose. This was terminated in 1996.

A second modernization attempt began in 1997 under a program called the Retirement Systems Modernization. Until 2001, OPM developed plans for the program. However, this was abandoned in June 2001.

A third initiative began in late 2001 under the same Retirement Systems Modernization name. This was later renamed as the RetireEZ program in February 2008, and an automated retirement processing system was deployed. After facing several issues over the next few years, OPM terminated the initiative in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is moving ahead with digitizing other federal agencies.

On March 25, Trump signed an executive order that called on the Treasury to use electronic payments over paper checks.

A White House Fact Sheet said paper checks impose unnecessary delays and costs. In addition, “maintaining the physical infrastructure and specialized technology for digitizing paper records cost the American taxpayer over $657 million in fiscal year 2024 alone,” it said.

The Treasury is required to stop issuing paper checks by Sept. 30. Exemptions are allowed under “certain emergency payments where electronic disbursement would cause undue hardship” and for “individuals who do not have access to banking services or electronic payment systems,” the order said.

At the time, Trump said this was something “that should have been done 25, 30 years ago.”