One reason for that is the increased use of technology. For example, we at OPM, in consultation and partnership with customer agencies, have implemented Employee Express and Annuitant Express, which permit federal employees and annuitants to make routine changes in their personnel and pay records by touchtone telephone calls. Hundreds of thousands of people are using this system already and the program is rapidly being expanded. It's truly a win-win system. And we in government reap huge savings in personnel costs.
Privatization can be an innovative downsizing tool.
This was the first time a federal agency had used an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, to help employees move from the public to the private sector. The new company has been in business almost a year and is doing very well. When Jim King said he wanted to help those employees start their own company, rather than simply putting them on the street, some people said it couldn't be done and others said it shouldn't be done. But Director King pushed ahead, and it was done, and we think US Investigations Services, Inc., will be a model for other privatizations in the years ahead. OPM is working with agencies to design the Performance Based Organizations that can point the way to the government of the future.