1

United States

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 20-301 Date: January 2020 

Subject: Fiscal Year 2020 Federal Employee Benefits Cost Factors for Calculating 

Imputed Costs

This letter provides the FY 2020 cost factors for the Federal civilian benefit programs. Agencies 

will use these factors to calculate their imputed costs relating to the Civil Service Retirement 

System (CSRS), the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the Federal Employees 

Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Program 

(FEGLI). The imputed costs are used to determine the actuarial liabilities which are included in 

Governmental financial statements. 

Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) 03-309, dated September 15, 2003, provides detailed 

instructions for the computation and accounting for imputed costs related to the Federal civilian 

benefit programs; see http://www.opm.gov/retire/pubs/bals/2003/03-309.pdf for more 

information. 

COST FACTORS

Pensions. The economic assumptions used to calculate the FY 2020 cost factors under 

Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) 33: Pensions, Other Retirement 

Benefits, and Other Postemployment Benefits: Reporting the Gains and Losses from Changes in 

Assumptions and Selecting Discount Rates and Valuation Dates are based on 10-year historical 

averages. These economic assumptions differ from those established by OPM under guidance 

from the CSRS Board of Actuaries for the determination of certain statutory funding payments 

for CSRS and FERS. 

The FY 2020 cost factors for all categories of CSRS coverage are attached. While agency 

payments under CSRS are not affected by the CSRS normal cost percentages for the vast 

majority of agencies, the CSRS normal cost percentages determined under SFFAS 33 are used to 

determine the actuarial liabilities which are included in Governmental financial statements.
2

The FY 2020 cost factors reported in this BAL differ from the normal cost percentages used to 

determine the employer contributions agencies pay for FERS employees. The cost factors for all 

categories of FERS coverage are attached. Since the cost factors reported under SFFAS 33 are 

determined on a different basis than the actual FERS normal cost contributions, agencies should 

expect to continue to report future imputed retirement costs for their FERS employees.

FEHB Program. OPM is providing the FEHB cost factors for the United States Postal Service 

as well as the cost factors for the remainder of the Government in this letter. For FY 2020, the 

Non-Postal cost factor is $8,038 and the Postal cost factor is $9,054 per enrolled employee. 

Please note that the cost factors shown below are based on the actuarial assumptions required by 

SFFAS 33, as calculated by the FEHB actuary.

Non-Postal 

Quarter Factor

1st $1,977 

2nd $1,999

3rd $2,020 

4th $2,042 

FY 2020 $8,038 

Postal 

Quarter Factor

1st $2,227 

2nd $2,251 

3rd $2,276

4th $2,300 

FY 2020 $9,054 

FEGLI Program. The FY 2020 cost factor for the FEGLI is 0.02 percent of basic pay, the same

as in previous years. 

STATEMENT FOR AUDITORS

The FY 2020 cost factors provided in this letter are being issued before an opinion by OPM’s 

independent public accounting firm can be received for FY 2020. Nonetheless, the FY 2020 cost 

factors for “regular” CSRS and FERS coverage, as well as those for the FEHB and FEGLI 

Programs are consistent with the disclosures in the footnotes accompanying OPM’s consolidated 

FY 2019 financial statements. These statements received an unqualified audit opinion. The 

policies, procedures and controls pertaining to the calculations of the FY 2020 cost factors did 

not change from FY 2019. Consequently, auditors of FY 2020 financial statements can rely upon 

the disclosures in Office of Personnel Management’s FY 2019 financial statements and the 

related audit opinion. 
3

INQUIRIES

If you have any questions regarding this information, feel free to email us at 

FinancialBALs@opm.gov. You may also phone us at (202) 606-0606. 

 DENNIS D. COLEMAN

 Chief Financial Officer 

Attachment
4

Attachm ent

2020 COST FACTORS FOR THE CSRS AND FERS

CSRS 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%)

Regular Non-Postal 38.5 

Regular Offset Non-Postal 28.6 

Regular Postal Service 33.2 

Regular Offset Postal Service 23.6 

Law Enforcem ent Officers 62.7 

Law Enforcem ent Officers - Offset 53.4

Air Traffic Controllers 51.3 

Air Traffic Controllers – Offset 43.7 

Mem bers of Congress 42.8 

Mem bers of Congress – Offset 39.2

Congressional Em ployees 52.4 

Congressional Em ployees – Offset 42.9
5

FERS 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%)

Regular Non-Postal 16.7 

Regular Postal Service 15.3 

Law Enforcem ent Officers 34.7 

Air Traffic Controllers 34.4 

Mem bers of Congress 23.3 

Congressional Em ployees 23.8

Military Reserve Technicians 19.9

FERS-Revised Annuity Em ployees (RAE) 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%)

Regular Non-Postal – RAE 17.2 

Regular Postal Service – RAE 15.8 

Law Enforcem ent Officers - RAE 35.2 

Air Traffic Controllers - RAE 34.9

Military Reserve Technicians - RAE 20.3 
6

FERS-Further Revised Annuity Em ployees (FRAE) 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%)

Regular Non- Postal – FRAE 17.4 

Regular Postal Service– FRAE 16.0 

Law Enforcem ent Officers - FRAE 35.4 

Air Traffic Controllers - FRAE 35.0 

Military Reserve Technicians - FRAE 20.6