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THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD ANNOUNCES NEW FUNDS TO BE AVAILABLE IN MAY 2001; UNIFORMED SERVICES TSP PARTICIPATION EXPECTED TO COMMENCE IN OCTOBER 2001
Washington, D.C. (September 27, 2000) – The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board announced today that Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants will be able to begin investing in the Small Capitalization Stock Index Investment (S) Fund and the International Stock Index Investment (I) Fund in May 2001. The new S and I Funds will be in addition to the Common Stock Index Investment (C) Fund, Fixed Income Index Investment (F) Fund, and Government Securities Investment (G) Fund, which are the current investment choices available to participants.
The TSP is a retirement savings plan for Federal employees that is similar to the 401(k) plans offered by many private employers. It was created by the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986. As of August 31, 2000, TSP assets totaled approximately $102 billion, and retirement savings accounts have been established for nearly 2.5 million TSP participants.
The new TSP investment funds had been delayed pending the delivery of a new record keeping system being developed for the Board by American Management Systems, Inc., of Fairfax, Virginia, and initially scheduled for implementation this year. Although a firm date still has not been established for the new system’s availability, the two new funds, originally planned to be introduced in connection with the new system, will be made available in May 2001 under the current record keeping system. The new system will be implemented as soon as possible thereafter, and current activities will be converted into the new system at that time. (Monthly updates on the status of the new system are published on the TSP Web site at www.tsp.gov.)
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In announcing the May 2001 schedule, Executive Director Roger W. Mehle said that offering the new funds in the current system would "provide the most anticipated feature of the pending enhancements to the Thrift Savings Plan without any risk to the Plan’s longstanding financial and functional integrity. The current system, operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Finance Center, has proven its processing accuracy over 13 years of operation, and it can be modified to provide these additional investment opportunities next May."
Mehle also took note of the pending House/Senate conference on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2001, which provides for uniformed services participation in the TSP. "Although the Congress has not yet adopted a conference report and the President would, of course, have to sign the resulting legislation, we expect these actions to take place. We are therefore planning to offer our 2.3 million men and women in uniform the opportunity to participate in the TSP in October of next year by modifying our well-tested current system." Mehle said that uniformed services accounts would be converted into the new system as soon as feasible thereafter.
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