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OPM Ends RetireEZ Contract with Hewitt Associates

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday terminated its $290 million, 10-year contract with Hewitt Associates.

Federal News Network Staff

October 16, 2008 2:42 pm

1 min read

By Max Cacas
FederalNewsRadio

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday terminated its $290 million, 10-year contract with Hewitt Associates of Illinois to develop the retirement calculation engine for the RetireEZ program.

Ronald Flom, OPM’s Senior Procurement Executive, told reporters that Hewitt failed to meet the minimum requirements of their contract and that the company was informed this morning of the termination.

The agency issued a stop-work order back in May of this year and no work has been performed under the contract since then.

OPM Deputy Director Howard Weizman said the agency is now considering its options for the calculator portion of RetireEZ, which could involve eventually reopening the procurement for that part of the project.

Other parts of the RetireEz program, such as a review of retirement procedures and policies and converting paper records into electronic form, are unaffected.

OPM says progress continues in both of those areas.

FederalNewsRadio has received a statement from Hewitt, which says OPM’s decision was “disappointing”.

The company continues:

We have delivered on our contractual commitments and taken extra steps to try to ensure the success of the project despite serious program management deficiencies on the part of OPM. We will vigorously challenge OPM’s attempt to terminate this contract for default and are confident in our position. OPM has failed to deliver on its contractual requirements and commitments. Ultimately, OPM’s decision is not in the best interest of the more than five million federal employees and retirees the system would have served, or the taxpayers who ultimately fund this initiative.

FederalNewsRadio’s Dorothy Ramienski contributed to this report.