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United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 11-403 Date: September 27, 2011

Subject: 2011 Federal Benefits Open Season: Ordering and Distributing Materials

This Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) is the third in our series of 2011 Federal 

Benefits Open Season BALs. This BAL (11-403) provides instructions for ordering and 

distributing Open Season materials including program-specific materials for the Federal 

Flexible Spending Account Program (FSAFEDS), Federal Employees Dental and Vision 

Program (FEDVIP), and Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. You can 

find previously issued Open Season BALs at www.opm.gov/retire/pubs/bals/bal11.asp. 

We divided this BAL into seven sections to provide information regarding your 

responsibilities for the upcoming Open Season. 

Please be aware that it is now too late to order FEHB Fee-for-Service (FFS) health plan 

brochures. If you did not order a supply of FFS health plan brochures, you can access 

these brochures at www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. 

You can request HMO plan brochures directly from the health plan contacts identified in 

Attachment 4, FEHB Plan Contacts for Requesting HMO Brochures. 

Please distribute Attachment 1, Going Green – View Your FEHB Brochure Online or 

Contact Your Plan for a Paper Brochure, to your employees. 

 Attachment 1: Going Green – View Your FEHB Brochure Online or Contact 

Your Plan for a Paper Brochure

 Attachment 2: Easy to Use Chart for Ordering and Distributing Materials for 

FSAFEDS, FEDVIP, and FEHB

 Attachment 3: FEDVIP Plan Contacts for Requesting Brochures and Organizing 

Open Season Fairs 

 Attachment 4: FEHB Plan Contacts for Requesting HMO Brochures 

 Attachment 5: FEHB Plan Contacts Regarding Enrollment

 Attachment 6: Open Fee-for-Service (FFS) FEHB Plan Contacts for Ordering 

Audio Cassette Tapes and Compact Discs for the Visually Impaired

 Attachment 7: FEHB Plan Contacts for Organizing Open Season Fairs 
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We previously described our Going Green initiative in BAL 11-401. This effort has a

two-fold purpose: 

 

1) to provide employees the option of viewing brochures online or to receive a paper 

copy of their health plan’s brochure; and,

2) to limit the number of brochures printed and distributed to Federal agencies. 

We believe that coordination between agency headquarters and field offices should 

produce a much lower need for paper brochures and yet still ensure that those sites that 

need paper brochures will have them. 

You can continue to promote this effort by referring brochure inquiries to 

www.opm.gov/FEHBbrochures. 

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of California has had one brochure for both its Northern

California Region (code 59) and Southern California Region (code 62). However, in 

2012, they will have separate brochures for the Northern California and the Southern 

California Regions. Please keep this change in mind when you request brochures.

This year’s Federal Benefits Open Season will run from Monday, November 14 through 

Monday, December 12, 2011. 

As a reminder, the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program and the 

Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) are not participating in this year’s 

Federal Benefits Open Season.

If you have specific questions about the Open Season, please contact your agency’s 

benefits officer. If you do not know who this person is, please go to 

http://apps.opm.gov/abo/ where you will find a list of agencies and their Headquarters 

Benefits Officers. 

We look forward to working with you in the upcoming 2011 Federal Benefits Open 

Season for enrollment for the 2012 Plan Year. As always, we encourage you and your 

employees to visit www.opm.gov/insure. 

Sincerely,

John O’Brien

Director

Healthcare and Insurance