Background

The U.S. Postal Service manages over 31,000 facilities nationwide, both owned and leased. Regular maintenance is critical to keeping these spaces safe and operations efficient. The Postal Service spent about $5.5 billion on facility repairs between 2014 and 2024. However, in 2024, it reported a growing backlog of maintenance issues totaling approximately $20 billion.

What We Did

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Postal Service’s process to identify, manage, and address its deferred maintenance. We analyzed maintenance calls and repair data and conducted site visits.

What We Found

The Postal Service did not consistently define and manage deferred maintenance and lacked accurate cost estimates to effectively prioritize resources. This occurred because it did not establish a common framework to track all deferred maintenance or ensure data integrity. As a result, the Postal Service projected $20 billion in deferred maintenance using limited definitions and data. Conversely, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) created a more granular estimate of $13 billion using available data consisting of reported issues and current cost approximations — a baseline example for the Postal Service as it improves its data. We also identified $1.1 million in paid invoices where work was not completed.

We additionally identified unreported maintenance issues during site visits and from required assessments. This occurred because staff did not understand the importance of their role in reporting facility issues, and the Postal Service did not sufficiently oversee its assessment program. As a result, maintenance issues went undetected, limiting visibility into facility conditions. Without a comprehensive understanding of the total scope of deferred maintenance, the Postal Service cannot accurately estimate future maintenance funding needs. Promoting a culture of timely reporting and resolution of maintenance needs can help prevent minor problems from escalating.

Recommendations and Management’s Comments

We made eight recommendations to address issues identified, and Postal Service management agreed with three and disagreed with five. We consider management’s comments responsive to recommendations 4, 7, and 8 and will pursue the five disagreed recommendations through the audit resolution process. Management’s comments and our evaluation are at the end of each finding and recommendation.