The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), the governing body of the TSP (Thrift Saving Plan), received an apology from new recordkeeping company.
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To be honest, as an outside observer, I was personally impressed that the new TSP online system was up and running on June 1st earlier this year. The transition to a new recordkeeper was set to be completed “by the first week in June” and the fact that it was accessible on the 1st, just five days after the old online portal was turned off, was commendable. That being said, there have been numerous criticisms regarding how everything was rolled out. This even prompted members of Congress to call on the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the issues stemming from the recordkeeping switch, which has been deemed by the public as “botched.” The GAO will undertake this review by November.
There were bumps in the road regarding the actual records getting transferred to the new recordkeeper, Accenture, but overall the switch went smoothly, considering that $743 billion, belonging to 6.6 million TSP participants, was at stake. From the actual user’s perspective – the TSP accountholders trying to access their account on tsp.gov – reports have been that the new system’s rollout was rather messy. There were some individuals who needed to correct their beneficiary information, or wait a few weeks for their entire statement history to be available (the two main “bumps in the road” mentioned above), but every TSP online user had to create brand new credentials. To ensure the process was secure and properly identifying people, the procedure for creating a new log-in password was not easy, especially for those who are less tech-savvy. Trouble with this initial step led to the TSP call center getting flooded with frustrated users who were unable to get into their TSP account.
Accenture Says Sorry to TSP Board
On August 24th, during the FRTIB’s monthly meeting, Elaine Beeman of Accenture Federal Services attended to personally issue an apology from the recordkeeping company. Elaine noted the “cumbersome” log-in process, and that they had incorrectly assessed the possible amount of incoming calls beforehand. Anticipating a large volume of calls following the transition, the largest number of calls previously recorded for a single day was multiplied by two to provide a workable estimate. The actual amount after the transition turned out to be 6 times that of the previous one-day record. This underestimation resulted in wait times averaging durations around 2 hours throughout June. Since then, wait times are down to 24 seconds on average. Beeman noted they’ve been able to remove the “high-call volume” message from the TSP website.
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The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. The TSP is a defined contribution plan, meaning that the retirement income you receive from your TSP account will depend on how much you (and your agency or service, if you're eligible to receive agency or service contributions) put into your account during your working years and the earnings accumulated over that time. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) administers the TSP.
