9c. Appendix C Communication Vehicles.docx

Communicating with Federal employees is decentralized at the agency/department level. We do not have one master list of email addresses for all Federal employees, nor do we have a master list of home addresses for all of them. We are not expecting the Contractor to mail information directly to all employees’ home addresses. We do expect that the Contractor will discuss, plan and schedule all communications events with OPM prior to implementation.

The rest of this section describes what communications vehicles are available, and how the Contractor can use them.

Federal Benefits Officers Each agency/department has at least one official headquarters benefits officer who handles open seasons and disseminates information on the various Federal benefits – retirement, thrift savings plan, health benefits, life insurance, leave programs, etc. There are approximately 150 benefits officers. These human resources professionals serve as the Government’s front line representatives for providing information about all Federal benefit programs.

We can share names, email addresses and phone numbers of agency Benefits Officers with the successful Contractor. They can help facilitate the educational and marketing campaigns. Contractors should propose the best use of this communication vehicle.

We hold regular meetings of the benefits officers in OPM’s auditorium. The Contractor can plan to use these meetings to discuss and help solve any issues with FSAFEDS.

The Contractor will be responsible for educating employees as part of each annual Federal Benefits Open Season. Education may include such avenues as auditorium meetings, web videos, webinars, interactive voice response systems, a toll-free phone number, pamphlets, enrollment kits, etc. We are NOT expecting Federal human resources professionals to become flexible spending account experts and converse knowledgeably with employees about the rules and requirements of flexible spending accounts. That is what the Contractor will do. What we will expect is that when employees approach their agencies with a question, the human resources professionals will know to refer them to the Contractor’s dedicated toll-free number, the Contractor’s web site, published pamphlets, the schedule of employee meetings, etc. Agency human resources professionals will be conduits in directing employees where to go for answers, as opposed to answering the questions directly.

Payroll Officers Each agency/department also has a payroll officer to deal with payroll and financial issues related to the benefits programs. There is a separate automated email listserv for payroll officers called FINPAY. More information about this listserv can be found at listserv.opm.gov.

APPENDIX C

COMMUNICATION VEHICLES

Web Sites OPM has a website devoted to FSAFEDS at https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/flexible-spending-accounts/. This web site includes summary benefit information and links to the Contactor’s FSAFEDS website.

Individual Federal agencies/departments also have their own Internet web sites and/or Intranets. The Contractor can develop “turn-key” announcements to forward to agencies to post on their web sites.

List Serv We will work with the Contractor to reach benefit officers through OPM’s BenefitsInfo listserv. The listserv can be used to share information and documents.

Access to the Internet With online enrollment, online claims submission and status, and email customer support, FSAFEDS is largely a web-focused benefit. The vast majority of Federal employees have access to the internet at work and/or at home. The Contractor should consider the best ways to communicate using the internet and how to improve the FSAFEDS experience for web savvy participants.

Payroll Stuffers Most, if not all, Federal employees receive their pay through electronic funds transfer. They may or may not receive a hard-copy statement of their pay each pay period. The Contractor should not plan on using payroll stuffers as an effective means of conveying information to Federal employees.

Bulk Distribution Channels We expect the Contractor to mail educational/informational pamphlets to Federal agencies/departments for their further distribution to the Federal employees at their worksites. We use this same method to distribute bulk materials for our annual health benefits program to Federal agencies/departments. We anticipate that the Contractor can use the same distribution list for FSAFEDS. We update this list every August. Each year, we send the main insurance benefits informational booklet to approximately 500 different distribution sites.

Benefits Administration Letters We send Benefits Administration Letters (BALs) to the human resources professionals at all of the Federal agencies/departments. We post BALs on OPM’s BAL web site at http://www.opm.gov/retire/pubs/bals/index.asp as well as on the Contractor’s FSAFEDS website. We also distribute all BALs via email to subscribers of the BENEFITSInfo listserv.

We use BALs to send information and instructions to agencies, and can also send them pattern letters, pattern emails, pattern articles, pattern HTML text, etc., for use in employee letters, employee emails, house publications, Intranets, etc. This is a good way to get information to employees through their human resources offices.

Other Many Federal employees read publications such as the Federal Times, Government Executive, Federal Daily, Federal Managers Association newsletters, Federal News Radio, etc.

Federal Annuitants

Eligibility Annuitants are not eligible for the Federal Flexible Benefits Program because they do not have earned income from employment with the Federal Government. If an Annuitant is rehired by the Federal Government in a position that conveys eligibility for the FEHB Program, he or she becomes a Reemployed Annuitant and is treated as a Covered Employee. The Reemployed Annuitant may elect participation in FSAFEDS just as any other Covered Employee as long as the Reemployed Annuitant is receiving pay from employment with an Adopting Employer.