Federal Managers Association

In the News

• Retirement Application Processing Backlog Nearly Doubles in Four Months - March 7, 2026

• FEDweek

  The backlog of retirement applications pending processing at OPM has nearly doubled since last fall, with an end-of-February figure above 65,200 compared with about 36,500 at the end of October.

  OPM received more than 31,200 applications in February while processing about 18,100. The total average processing time at OPM was 71 days, down from 77 in January and back to around the levels of the prior several months.

  That decrease was largely due to faster processing of applications filed digitally through the Online Retirement Application portal, where the average time fell from 48 to 34 days. The average processing time for paper claims was 95 days. Following the pattern of recent months, about half of applications in February were made through that portal, rather than on paper.

  To read the full article, click here.

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