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Modernizing a system that helps calculate benefits for retirees

Software development

We helped modernize the federal retirement benefits calculation system, building responsive interfaces and secure backend infrastructure. Our work enables Office of Personnel Management (OPM) specialists to calculate benefits accurately and efficiently for hundreds of thousands of federal retirees annually.

Client

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

The challenge

Approximately 100,000 people retire from federal positions annually, and OPM specialists distribute billions of dollars in retirement annuities to retirees and their survivors each year. They rely on the Federal Annuity Claims Expert System (FACES) to calculate these benefits, but the system was built in the 1990s and presented significant challenges, like:

  • No ability to evaluate multiple financial scenarios, limiting specialists’ ability to serve retirees effectively
  • Hard-coded business rules with limited documentation, making it expensive and time-consuming to fix bugs or update calculations
  • System components no longer supported by the manufacturer

Our approach

Frontend development and accessibility

  • Implemented responsive, accessible interfaces using USWDS components that allow specialists to evaluate multiple financial scenarios simultaneously
  • Ensured designs met federal accessibility standards
  • Validated behavior against real specialist workflows with designers and subject matter experts

Backend and infrastructure

  • Made significant contributions to backend services and infrastructure supporting accurate benefits calculations
  • Implemented security enhancements critical for handling personally identifiable information and sensitive financial data
  • Built RESTful APIs following API-first development practices

Testing and code quality

  • Created a comprehensive battery of automated unit tests to ensure extensibility and maintainability
  • Contributed to code reviews and overall code quality improvements across the codebase
  • Integrated automated checks into the development process to catch issues early

Keys to success

Blue Tiger was a key partner in ensuring the success of this effort led by Coforma.

  • Testing framework designed for long-term maintainability
  • Rapid integration into an established team and workflow
  • Security-first approach to handling sensitive financial and personal data
  • Accessible, responsive interfaces built to federal design standards

Results and impact

We helped OPM modernize retirement benefits infrastructure that serves hundreds of thousands of federal retirees annually.

  • Delivered responsive, accessible, and secure interfaces that modernize how specialists calculate federal retirement benefits
  • Enabled specialists to evaluate multiple financial scenarios, improving their ability to serve retirees accurately
  • Reduced long-term maintenance burden through a testing framework that ensures the system remains extensible as requirements evolve
  • Positioned OPM to more easily update business rules and calculations as federal retirement policy changes over time