In a limestone mine more than 230 feet underground, federal officials marked the “Last Day of Paper” for retirement records, signaling a shift from decades of analog processing to a fully digital system.
Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor explained that the new approach gives employees permission to solve long‑standing problems rather than following rigid procedures.
For years, retirement applications were mailed between agencies and then manually processed at the Retirement Operations Center, where workers handled roughly 10,000 cases each month and stored over 400 million paper records.
OPM, the federal government’s human resources arm, manages policies, benefits, and personnel systems for millions of civilian employees and retirees.
Although online retirement applications had been discussed for years, momentum stalled until recent efforts accelerated the transition to digital processing.
The underground facility became a national symbol of bureaucracy after a public figure revealed its existence, describing it as a “time warp” and noting it in the Oval Office.
With the new system, retirees can submit applications immediately, eliminating the six‑month wait associated with paper processing.
Kupor credited innovation leaders for pushing change, noting that creative thinking and bold decisions are essential to improve government efficiency.
The secure archival storage houses records for a range of museums, archives, cultural institutions, and government agencies, operating within a highly secure environment shared with other agencies.
He emphasized that the advantages of electronic records outweigh potential security concerns and can reduce costs for taxpayers.
According to Kupor, applying innovative skills to modernization will enhance service quality and efficiency without increasing congressional appropriations.
