OPM sets June 2 deadline for new retirement applications to be electronic 

The Office of Personnel Management is giving agencies less than a month to start submitting all new retirement applications for federal employees electronically, moving away from a largely paper-based system.

In a Wednesday memo, OPM acting Director Charles Ezell gave agencies that are served by the National Finance Center and Interior Business Center — two federal shared services providers offering HR support — a deadline of June 2 to start processing retirements electronically. According to the memo, OPM will facilitate applications via the Online Retirement Application effective July 15 and won’t accept paper filings.

The federal retirement system managed by OPM has in the past faced criticism for its delays. In 2019, the Government Accountability Office identified reliance on paper-based and manual processing as among the reasons for the lack of speed. While there have long been efforts to modernize that system, it has yet to go fully electronic.

Now, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has taken an interest in the system. Elon Musk called it out specifically in an Oval Office press conference in February, describing the “mine” where the paper records are kept and manual processing. “The elevator breaks down sometimes and then … nobody can retire,” Musk said.

Later that month, OPM touted in a video posted to X that it had processed the first digital retirement. The Wednesday guidance suggests it’s scaling that process quickly.

According to the memo, training and onboarding will be available to all agencies participating and must be completed by June 2. If agencies don’t use either of the two shared services providers, OPM is providing a “complementary method for electronic submissions.”

“OPM will coordinate directly with payroll providers to ensure all agencies they service will have access to ORA in the near future,” Ezell wrote.