Upcoming Audit Work

The Postal Service must thoroughly screen and evaluate prospective employees to ensure suitability and maintain the integrity of the organization. The level of clearance required is based on the type of position; however, most positions are considered low risk and require a background investigation called a National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI). Our objective is to assess the U.S. Postal Service’s employee background screening process to determine whether the Postal Service properly granted NACI clearances to employees.

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, as amended, established the Office of the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors sets policies on all Postal Service matters, reviews its practices, conducts long-range planning, directs and controls its expenditures, and approves officer compensation. Board policy requires the Office of the Inspector General to annually audit the Board’s travel and miscellaneous expenses. Our objective is to determine whether Board expenditures were properly supported, reasonable, and complied with Postal Service and Board policies and procedures.  

The U.S. Postal Service delivers over 110 billion mail pieces each year, and these mailings should include Postal Service authorized stamps (or other postage) to verify payment. However, counterfeit stamps—enabled by advanced printing technologies and proliferating online marketplaces—pose a growing threat to Postal Service revenues, operations, and customers. The Postal Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) engage in prevention, education, and enforcement efforts to mitigate this growing threat, and they reported seizing counterfeit stamps worth $16 million in fiscal year 2025. This audit will evaluate the Postal Service and USPIS’s efforts to address counterfeit stamps. 

Every year during the Postal Service’s peak mailing season, increased mail package volume significantly strains the Postal Service’s processing, logistics, and delivery network. To help handle this strain, the Postal Service creates preparedness plans with peak season initiatives. These initiatives are intended to help the Postal Service have the right amount of personnel, resources, and capacity throughout its network. Our objective is to evaluate the Postal Service’s performance during the fiscal year 2026 peak and post-peak seasons, the implementation of its peak season preparedness plans, and operational changes to the network potentially impacting performance.

The mission of the Postal Service is to provide the nation with trusted, safe, and secure communications and mail services. Recently, news media have often reported concerns about mail theft. Congress has focused on mail theft during congressional hearings and as a result, sent inquiries to the OIG. In a previous OIG report, U.S. Postal Service’s Response to Mail Theft, dated September 28, 2023, we identified several mail theft concerns including management not having actionable milestones, lack of arrow key accountability, and challenges with employee staffing and postal inspector mail theft training. Our objective is to follow up on U.S. Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service’s response to mail theft, and the scope of our audit will be from October 2023 through September 2025.