Katherine Archuleta, President Obama's nominee to head the Office of Personnel Management, promised this week to make long-needed, high-tech improvements in the federal government retirement claims process a top priority.
Noting the failure of previous attempts of the system to go paperless, Archuleta said she intends to follow through on years of promised updates.
"Identifying new IT leadership, using existing agency expertise, and seeking advice from experts from inside government and the private sector, I believe that OPM can successfully update its IT systems," Archuleta said during her confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
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Streamlining the processing of retirement checks to federal retirees has challenged the OPM for decades. The massive backlog means thousands of federal retirees have waited months — sometimes years — for their full benefits.
The ongoing sequester has made matters even worse, though the OPM reports the current benefits backlog was down 2.5 percent in June to 25,542 claims. The agency hopes the June numbers will show a drop to 16,078 late checks.
Formerly the chief of staff for the Labor and Transportation departments, Archuleta outlined a path to automation that would rely on a new hire — chief technology officer — who would focus exclusively on "assessing and improving" OPM technology products.
Creating a plan would happen within her first 100 days on the job, Archuleta promised.
Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would also fall in her domain, administering multi-state health plans offered on the insurance exchange.
She also listed goals of improving the security clearance process, and evaluating the cost of official time used by federal employees participating in union activities.
Archuleta is expected to receive a green light from the Senate shortly, as hers is one confirmation that isn't receiving Republican pushback.
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