+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| FEHB Program Carrier Letter          | ######  U.S. O                |
|                                      | ffice of Personnel Management |
| ##### All Carriers                   |                               |
|                                      | ####                          |
|                                      |  Office of Insurance Programs |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| **Letter No. 2000- 26** **Date:**    |                               |
| May 31, 2000                         |                               |
|                                      |                               |
| Fee-for-service \[ 21 \]             |                               |
| Experience-rated HMO \[ 23 \]        |                               |
| Community-rated \[ 25 \]             |                               |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------+

**SUBJECT:** Electronic Enrollment

This letter outlines changes in electronic enrollment transmission and
things you must do to prepare for Open Season this fall. The enclosure
details steps you must take before **August 18^th^**. Share this letter
and enclosure with your information systems staff and those who process
enrollments.

For the past several years, OPM-Macon has used "push" technology to
deliver electronic enrollment records to you. We required you to have a
dedicated PC and CloseUP software. OPM-Macon established a PC-to-PC
connection, and then "pushed" enrollment transactions to each plan at a
pre-determined time every week.

For the coming Open Season, OPM-Macon will use "pull" technology. They
will post your weekly enrollment report to an FTP server every Sunday.
Plans will dial in to "pull" their individual reports. This technology
does not require a dedicated PC, is more secure, and allows you to
pick-up reports whenever you wish.

To use this new technology, each plan must have a PC with Internet
access and must purchase the PGP Data Security Suite by Network
Associates. This special encryption software is available from many
software vendors; the approximate annual cost is \$84. You will need to
follow the steps outlined in the enclosure to use the "pull" technology.
After you have completed these steps, you will be able to log into your
predefined area on the FTP server with a unique account name and
password. You can then download your enrollment information using the
PGP encryption software.

Review the enclosure for details about actions you must complete before
**August 18^th^**. We will begin testing this new process the week of
August 21^st^. Starting the first week in October, OPM-Macon will place
your weekly enrollment reports on the server. These reports will remain
on the server until the first full week of October 2001.

If you have technical questions about establishing connections with
OPM-Macon, please contact Sidney Beach at (912) 744-2320, Chris Selle at
(912) 744-2115, or Jim Watson at (912) 744-2197. For general information
about the electronic enrollment process, please contact Mike Hodges or
Eric Figg at (202) 606-0745.

Sincerely,

\[Signed\]

Frank D. Titus

Assistant Director

for Insurance Programs

### Enclosure 

### 

##### Enclosure

####### Using "Pull" Technology

To use the File Transfer Processing (FTP) Protocol, you must complete
the following steps by August 18, 2000:

A.  Purchase the PGP Data Security Suite by Network Associates
    ([http://www.nai.com)](). Please note that this software does not
    have to be purchased at this web address; it is available from many
    vendors. You will use PGP software to decrypt the data.

B.  What you are doing in this step is creating a personal "public key"
    and "private key". You will e-mail your public key to OPM-Macon. You
    will keep your private key for yourself. **[Do not share your
    private key with anyone; that is a security risk]{.underline}**.
    Generate your Public Key to send to OPM-Macon using these general
    instructions:

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1.  Install the Network Associates PGP Data Security Suite using the
    manufacture's instructions. Install the PGP Desktop option.

2.  Select the Start Button, go to Programs, select PGP Program Group,
    start the PGP Keys Program.

3.  This should bring up the installation wizard. If it does not, go to
    the Key Tab, select New Key.

4.  Enter in your name and email address when prompted.

5.  Select key pair type of Diffie-Hellman/DSS.

6.  Select a minimum key pair size of 2048 bits.

7.  Set the key not to expire.

8.  Enter and confirm your passphrase. The passphrase should be a
    minimum of eight non-alphabetic characters.

9.  PGP will now generate your prime number and create your key pair.

10. After key pair is created, **[do not]{.underline}** select the box
    that says "send to the key to the root server".

11. Highlight the icon that looks like a person with a key on top of his
    head.

12. Right click and select export. Specify the filename you want to use.
    Make sure that you use a file name that you will remember, and save
    the file to a folder that you will remember. You should write the
    file and folder name down before you continue. You should select the
    file type as an ASCII key file (with the \*.asc extenstion). You are
    going to export only your **public key** as an ASCII text file. Do
    not include your private key when exporting. Make sure that you
    **[do not]{.underline}** select the box that says "include private
    keys/include 6.0 extensions".

13. Email the file you created in step 12 to Sidney Beach at
    <sabeach@opm.gov> / (912) 744-2320. This is similar to sending an
    e-mail with a Word document as an attachment. Call to verify that
    Mr. Beach received your file. Mr. Beach will then give you your
    unique username and password. You use this information to access the
    FTP sever and download your enrollment information.

    Complete steps 1-12 above before you move to C.

```{=html}
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```
C.  Once OPM-Macon has verified and loaded your key file, and given you
    your username and password, you may connect to OPM-Macon's FTP
    server. Once you have logged into the FTP directory supplied to you
    by OPM-Macon, you can download the file(s) in binary format and
    process the enrollments contained in the file.

D.  Decrypt the file(s).