The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has officially ended a decades-long reliance on a paper-based system for processing federal retirements. This transition marks the closure of operations at the OPM Retirement Operations Center, located more than 230 feet underground in a former limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania. The facility housed millions of government records, contributing to an analog system that persisted for many years.
OPM Director Scott Kupor described the move as a significant step towards modernization, stating that previous administrations had considered similar upgrades but failed to gain momentum. "The only thing I did that was different than any other predecessor was we gave people permission to actually solve the problems that I knew needed to be solved," Kupor told Fox News Digital. He credited the Biden administration and past officials with discussing the need for an online retirement application, though the initiative had not previously gained traction.
The federal retirement system had operated on a largely paper-based process since the 1980s. Despite multiple modernization efforts and pilot programs over the years, the government remained dependent on physical documents until recent acceleration of OPM's Online Retirement Application.
The underground facility's existence came to national attention last year when Elon Musk highlighted it, calling it "like a time warp." Musk commented, "Now people can retire as soon as they want, instead of waiting 6 months for paper to be carried into a mine."
Kupor emphasized the contributions of Musk and U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia, noting their role in rethinking processes and encouraging creative solutions for government efficiency. "It's a great example to me of the more meta level of what Elon and the DOGE team was doing, which is rethink processes from ground zero, be creative in terms of what the solutions are and recognize that, look, you have to actually make significant change if you want to ultimately drive efficiency in the government," Kupor said.
The Boyers facility, operated by Iron Mountain, also stores records for various cultural institutions and government agencies. Kupor addressed potential security concerns associated with physical records, stating that the benefits of transitioning to electronic records significantly outweigh any perceived risks. He believes that embracing innovation and creative thinking is crucial for government modernization, leading to improved service quality and taxpayer savings. "That's how we actually deliver more for the American people without constantly going to have to go back to the till and ask Congress for more money," Kupor stated.
OPM serves as the human resources department for the federal government, overseeing policies, benefits, and personnel systems for millions of civilian federal employees and retirees. The millions of paper documents previously stored in the mine are slated to be shredded as the agency completes its move to a digitized system.