[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR850.101]

[Page 396]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
          CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED)
 
PART 850_RETIREMENT SYSTEMS MODERNIZATION--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart A_General Provisions
 
Sec.  850.101  Purpose and scope.


    (a) The purpose of this part is to enable changes needed for 
implementation of the new retirement and insurance processing system 
created by the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM's) Retirement 
Systems Modernization (RSM) initiative. RSM is OPM's strategic 
initiative to improve the quality and timeliness of services to 
employees and annuitants covered by the Civil Service Retirement System 
(CSRS) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) by using 
contemporary, automated business processes and supporting technology. 
The RSM initiative is designed to transform the retirement process, as 
well as the processing of annuitant insurance elections of Federal 
Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), Federal Employees Health 
Benefits Program (FEHB), and Retired Federal Employees Health Benefits 
Program (RFEHB) coverage, by employing more efficient and effective 
business systems to respond to increased customer demand for higher 
levels of customer service and online self-service tools.
    (b) The provisions of this part authorize exceptions from regulatory 
provisions that would otherwise apply to CSRS and FERS annuities and 
FEGLI, FEHB and RFEHB benefits processed by or at the direction of OPM 
under the RSM initiative. Those regulatory provisions that would 
otherwise apply were established for a paper-based retirement and 
insurance benefits processing system that may eventually be phased out 
but which will continue to operate concurrently with RSM for some time, 
until RSM is fully implemented. During the phased transition to RSM 
processing, certain regulations that were not designed with RSM in mind, 
and which are incompatible with RSM business processes, must be set 
aside with respect to aspects of retirement and insurance processing 
accomplished under RSM. The regulations set forth in this part make the 
transition to RSM processes possible.
    (c) The provisions of this part do not affect retirement and 
insurance eligibility and annuity computation provisions. The provisions 
for capturing retirement and insurance data in an electronic format, 
however, may support, in some instances, more precise calculations of 
annuity and insurance benefits than were possible using paper records.