The Government Accountability Office (GAO) credited the Federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for solving technical issues that participants faced while using its latest online platform when it launched in 2022, but also cautioned in an Aug. 1 report that the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) “needs to greatly improve” oversight of TSP acquisition management and contractor oversight going forward.
FRTIB – a U.S. agency that helps Federal civilian employees with retirement plans –launched a modernized online system in 2022 for TSP, which is the largest retirement program for Federal employees with $895 billion in assets and seven million participants.
The new system was launched to improve users’ access, but GAO recounted that “immediately after the system launched” reports of users encountering difficulties accessing their savings and account information totaled 120,644 calls in the first day.
“Here, at GAO, we received pleas for help from some users, many of whom told us that they were unable to access funds to pay bills or time sensitive information needed to get loans and mortgages,” GAO said.
The new system allowed users to access data and perform transactions online 24 hours a day, provided access to mobile applications for services, and supported the administrative side of TSP.
Users encountered problems including missing beneficiary data and difficulties completing rollover requests and setting up their accounts. GAO said that the new system’s requirement that participants create new usernames and passwords to access their accounts – the root of many issues users encountered – was eventually resolved.
FRTIB hired third-party contractors to help with data and account management preceding the launch of the online platform. Third-party contractors were also later used to help identify issues and causes but FRTIB lacked the data to have efficient oversight over acquisition, management, and contractors, according to the GAO report.
Areas with inadequate oversight included contractor background checks, where GAO found that incorrect background checks were conducted for security levels that did not match the required standards.
Other issues with the system have included ensuring that contracted personnel assisting with TSP record management received initial or additional training and lacking key data to effectively have contractor oversight.
Additional recommendations provided by the agency for the FRTIB executive director include: ensuring that TSP system requirements align with board objectives and Federal standards; ensuring that FRTIB reviews testing documentation for new system upgrades; ensuring milestone documentation meets all requirements; expediting contract negotiations to receive all contractor oversight data; establishing documented procedures so that contractors can provide transactional data; and adjusting frameworks to focus on the largest financial impacts to users.
In a letter to GAO responding to its findings, Ravindra Deo, the executive director of FRTIB, said that the FRTIB agreed with all seven GAO recommendations and that several of the suggestions were “known to the FRTIB and had been, or were being, addressed.”
