As federal employees, USCP and other federal police officers are eligible to participate in one of the two federal retirement plans—the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). CSRS is available to employees entering federal service before 1984, while FERS is available to employees entering federal service on and after January 1, 1984. CSRS is a defined benefit plan— meaning that the employer promises a specified monthly benefit during retirement that is predetermined by a formula; in the case of CSRS, the benefit amount and eligibility depend on the employee’s earnings history, tenure of service, and age. The defined benefit plan is funded by both employee and agency contributions as well as additional contributions from the U.S. Treasury. CSRS covered employment is generally not considered covered employment for the purposes of Social Security; hence, CSRS covered employees do not also receive Social Security benefits. FERS is a retirement plan that provides benefits from three different sources: a defined benefit plan, Social Security, and TSP. As with CSRS, the defined benefit portion of FERS is funded by both employee and agency contributions, as well as additional contributions from the U.S. Treasury. Both federal retirement systems provide different levels of benefits depending on certain characteristics of covered employees. For example, under statutory and regulatory retirement provisions, federal employees who meet the retirement-related definitions of an LEO receive more generous retirement benefits under CSRS and FERS than non-LEO employees. Coverage under CSRS and FERS LEO definitional criteria generally include those personnel whose duties have been determined by the employing agency through an administrative process to be primarily the investigation, apprehension, or detention of individuals suspected or convicted of offenses against the criminal laws of the United States. The FERS definition of a LEO is more restrictive than the CSRS LEO definition in that it expressly includes a rigorous duty standard, which provides that LEO positions must be sufficiently rigorous such that “employment opportunities should be limited to young and physically vigorous individuals.” In general, neither LEO definitions under CSRS or FERS have been interpreted by OPM to cover federal police officers. Implementing OPM regulations for CSRS and FERS provide that the respective LEO regulatory definitions, in general, do not include an employee whose primary duties involve maintaining order, protecting life and property, guarding against or inspecting for violations of law, or investigating persons other than those who are suspected or convicted of offenses against the criminal laws of the United States, which are akin to the responsibilities of federal police officers. Federal police officers might also be treated, for retirement purposes, as “law enforcement officers” (that is, granted LEO-like status) under two additional scenarios. First, over the years, certain other federal police forces whose duties have not been determined by their employing agency to meet the LEO definitional criteria under the administrative process have been explicitly added to the CSRS or FERS statutory definitions so that they are considered LEOs for retirement purposes. Second, certain other federal police forces whose duties have not been determined by their employing agency to be within the scope of the definitional criteria of a LEO or explicitly added by amending statutory LEO definitions, have been provided retirement benefits similar to that of LEOs directly through legislation. Generally, federal LEOs (and officers with LEO-like status) have a higher benefit accrual rate than most other federal employees, albeit over a shorter period of time due to the mandatory retirement age for LEOs. Officers in these categories also contribute 0.5 percent more for these benefits than most other federal employees contribute—7.5 percent of pay for CSRS and 1.3 percent of pay for FERS. As shown in table 1, under both CSRS and FERS, statutory provisions provide for a faster accruing defined benefit pension for LEO and LEO-like personnel than that provided for most other federal employees. Also under FERS, federal police officers receiving LEO-like defined benefits are typically eligible for the same early and enhanced pension benefits as LEOs. For example, LEOs receive FERS cost-of-living adjustments beginning at retirement, even if retirement is earlier than age 62, instead of at age 62 when most other FERS retirees become eligible for these adjustments. Under FERS, LEOs also qualify for an unreduced early retirement benefit and may retire at age 50 with a minimum of 20 years of qualifying service, or at any age with at least 25 years of qualifying service, which are also more generous than the corresponding provisions for most other FERS participants. LEOs are also subject to mandatory retirement at age 57 with 20 years of service. They are also eligible to receive the special FERS supplement upon retirement that mimics the Social Security retirement benefits earned during federal government service. FERS retirees continue to receive the supplement until they reach age 62 and become eligible to collect Social Security. Police forces statutorily granted LEO-like status also typically receive these same benefits. The standard Social Security benefits apply to all federal LEOs. In addition to varying retirement benefits, federal police forces may also operate under different compensation systems. Some federal police forces are covered by OPM’s General Schedule (GS) basic pay plan (i.e., standard basic pay plan). According to OPM, standard governmentwide basic pay systems, including the GS system, are established under title 5 of the United States Code and most LEOs and other employees with arrest authority are covered by standard basic pay systems. Under a standard basic pay plan, OPM generally sets the basic pay ranges (grades) and pay increases (steps) within each grade for the positions, and federal police forces use these grades and steps to compensate their employees. On the other hand, some federal police forces are covered under non-standard basic pay plans authorized under separate legislation. Generally, under non-standard basic pay plans, federal police forces are authorized to, among other things, provide basic pay rates different from those specified in a standard basic pay plan and thus have the ability to offer higher minimum entry-level salaries than those provided to police officers under a standard pay system. USCP has enhanced retirement benefits and a higher minimum entry- level salary than most other federal police forces GAO reviewed. Also, it reported having a wider variety of protective duties such as routinely protecting members of Congress and buildings, and routinely using a variety of methods to carry out these duties, such as conducting entrance and exit screening and patrolling in vehicles, than most other police forces. However, USCP reported that its officers routinely engage in similar activities, such as intelligence operations, and have similar employment requirements for entry-level officers, such as being in good physical condition, as most other federal police forces. USCP and three other police forces—Park Police, Secret Service Uniformed Division, and Supreme Court Police—have enhanced retirement benefits, similar to those received by federal LEOs, where officers can retire after fewer years of service and their retirement annuities accrue faster than the other six federal police forces GAO reviewed. Specifically, police officers within these four police forces are authorized under CSRS and FERS to retire at age 50 with a minimum of 20 years of qualifying service and are subject to a mandatory retirement age of 57, with some exceptions. In 1988, the Park Police and the Secret Service Uniformed Division, both of which had not been determined by OPM and their employing agencies to be covered by the LEO definition, were explicitly added by statute to the FERS definition of a LEO so that they are considered LEOs for retirement purposes. Committee report language accompanying the 1988 legislation noted that “although these individuals are commonly thought to be law enforcement officers, OPM says they do not meet the FERS definition of ‘law enforcement officer’ under section 8401(17) and thus do not qualify for FERS law enforcement officer benefits.” The Committee report then provided that the 1988 legislation would ensure that these individuals will receive FERS law enforcement officer benefits. In comparison, rather than amending the statutory LEO definition, separate legislation in 1990 and 2000 provided the USCP and the Supreme Court Police, respectively, with enhanced retirement benefits similar to those received by LEOs. language accompanying the 2000 Supreme Court legislation, for example, explained that the new provision served to “bring the Supreme Court Police into parity with the retirement benefits provided to the United States Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement agencies.” Federal police officers at the remaining six police forces in our review receive standard federal employee retirement benefits. Pub. L. No. 101-428, 104 Stat. 928 (1990); Pub. L. No. 106-553, 114 Stat. 2762 (2000). those reported by the other federal police forces. With respect to USCP, for example, under its non-standard basic pay authority, the Capitol Police Board and the Chief of the Capitol Police set basic pay rates (both grades and steps) for USCP officers. Three other police forces (BEP Police, Pentagon Police, and Postal Security Force) with standard federal employee retirement benefits also operate non-standard basic pay plans, by statute, while the remaining three police forces—FBI Police, FEMA Police, and NIH Police—operate under the standard basic pay plans to compensate their officers. USCP and the three police forces with enhanced retirement benefits offered among the highest minimum entry-level salaries, ranging from $52,020 to $55,653, as shown in table 2. At $55,653, USCP and the Supreme Court Police offered the highest minimum entry-level salaries to their police officers. NIH Police and Postal Security Force offered the lowest minimum entry-level salaries among the 10 police forces, at $38,678 and $38,609, respectively. USCP reported routinely having a wider variety of duties than other federal police forces. These duties ranged from routinely protecting members of Congress to buildings.