The Army Benefits Center-Civilian (ABC-C) located at Fort Riley, Kansas provides the tools Army Civilians need to take the driver's seat regarding their federal benefits. The Center, which opened January 18, 2000, provides automated civilian personnel benefits advisory and processing services for Army appropriated fund civilian employees. The ABC-C provides automated benefits services to civilian employees worldwide.
The ABC-C replaces the old way of doing personnel business, where employees often made trips to their CPACs to obtain, complete and submit forms to change their health, life or Thrift Savings Plan elections. Employees now have a convenient, self-service system which allows them to make these changes electronically by contacting ABC-C's Employee Benefit Information System (EBIS) using the Internet ( https://www.abc.army.mil) or ABC-C'sInteractive Voice Response System (IVRS) using a touch-tone telephone (1-877-ARMY CTR)in CONUS. Employees serving in OCONUS locations may call the benefits center using the following numbers: Belgium 0800-78245; Italy 800-780821; Japan 00531-1-20378; Korea 00798-14-800-4766; Netherlands 0800-0232739; Saudi Arabia 1-877-276-9287 (same as the CONUS number); United Kingdom 08-000857723; Germany 0800-1010282.
Most transactions will process overnight, and employees can verify completed transactions by revisiting the automated systems after 48 hours or checking their Leave and Earnings Statement. Employees may also obtain Benefits Statements including Annuity Estimates via the EBIS or IVRS.
Over 80,000 employee benefits elections and changes were made during the last two open seasons via the EBIS and IVRS. Employees have found that updates to FEHB were transacted much more quickly than the previous method of filing a hard copy health benefit election. This often resulted in new health carrier cards being received soon after the end of the open season.
The goal of the ABC-C is to give the civilian work force fast, timely and accurate customer service. The Center will gives employees more control over managing their own Federal benefits. Employees will use the ABC-C to receive personal counseling, process transactions and to obtain general information in the areas of retirement, life insurance, health benefits, survivor benefits, and the Thrift Savings Plan. The systems are available seven days a week, 21 hours a day, and will be down from midnight - 3 a.m., Central time, for systems maintenance. Benefits counselors are available Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.- 6 p.m., Central time.