Federal employees who came into government after Jan. 1, 1984 were part of a grand experiment. Could the government transition to a private-sector-like retirement system? The answer, 25 years after the creation of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), is a resounding yes. FERS, according to many experts, has lived up to the expectation of providing federal employees a three-piece retirement plan: a small defined pension, Social Security and a 401k-like investment opportunity in the Thrift Savings Plan. In our special report, FERS: 25 Years Later, Federal News Radio explores whether moving from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to FERS was a success and how FERS has evolved over the last quarter century.