News Release

OPM Announces Four Agencies to Deliver Services Under e-Payroll

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James today identified four payroll service providers to replace the 22 current providers of payroll and related services for the federal government's 1.8 million employees.

Today's e-Payroll announcement is part of President Bush's Management Agenda, which is designed to save taxpayer dollars and streamline government operations.

The four e-Payroll providers, representing two strategic partnerships, are:

• Department of Agriculture's National Finance Center, New Orleans
• Department of Defense's Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Arlington, Virginia
• Department of the Interior's National Business Center, Washington, DC
• General Services Administration, Washington, DC

"I want to assure federal employees that the providers will work diligently to avoid disruption in service as agencies transition to the new payroll system," said James, whose agency will set policy to ensure payroll operations are properly regulated. "Employees will receive their paychecks on time and in the right amount."

James noted that the e-Payroll initiative is like a paycheck to taxpayers who will no longer be asked to subsidize a bloated, duplicative and archaic payroll system in dire need of costly modernization.

The four providers were selected from among eight agencies that submitted proposals for bringing contemporary services to federal payroll operations.

The consolidation fulfills the Administration's e-Payroll initiative, part of President Bush's Management Agenda. E-Payroll, one of five e-government initiatives owned by OPM, is designed to slim and tone the current bloated, duplicative and costly payroll structure. Sculpting the federal payroll system will save taxpayers approximately $1 billion over the next decade.

"Ultimately, we expect consolidation and standardization of payroll delivery systems to generate additional cost savings," said James, who cited out-year savings resulting from the need for fewer investments in systems modernization across government.

A study by the Department of the Treasury's Joint Financial Management Improvement Program concluded that the hodgepodge of 22 independent federal payroll providers needs hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars in modernization improvements. The decision to consolidate was made by OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, who collaborated with the Chief Information Officer's (CIO) Council and the Chief Financial Officer's (CFO) Council to develop a payroll consolidation business plan.

Under the e-Payroll initiative, the four providers of payroll services will begin governmentwide processing by September 2004. OPM will set policy to ensure payroll operations are properly regulated.

The purpose of the President's Management Agenda is to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars and streamline citizen-to-government transactions. A copy of the President's e-Government strategy, which includes information on each of the e-Government initiatives, is available on the OMB web site at www.omb.gov .

The four other e-Government initiatives owned by OPM are:

• Recruitment One-Stop, a collaborative effort between OPM and federal agencies that builds on the success of USAJOBS to assist applicants find employment with the federal government;
• e-Clearance, which consolidates and increases access through the use of technology to improve the efficiency and speed of granting or locating security clearances or investigations;
• Enterprise Human Resource Integration (EHRI), which will enable the electronic transfer of HR data throughout the government, eliminating the need for paper employee records;
• e-Training, which unifies e-Training services across government, enhances agency human capital initiatives by supporting and leveraging existing e- Training resources, and advances continuous learning as a strategic business investment.

Information on OPM programs may be found at www.opm.gov.

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OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.

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