Upcoming Audit Work

The Postal Service developed a plan to handle the large increase in package and mail volume that was expected to occur during peak mailing season. The Postal Service developed its fiscal year (FY)  2023 peak season preparedness plan to build upon the successes it had during the prior peak season by planning to hire additional employees, deploy additional machines, and acquire facility space. Our objective is to evaluate the Postal Service’s performance during the FY 2023 Peak Mailing Season and the implementation of its peak season preparedness plan.

With the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General now has oversight jurisdiction of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The PRC is an independent agency that exercises regulatory oversight of the Postal Service.  It is composed of five commissioners, supported by a staff of approximately 70 individuals, who oversee rate setting and performance of the Postal Service. The Office of Secretary and Administration is responsible for the PRC’s employee travel, as well as personnel policy and compliance. The objective of our audit is to evaluate the internal controls over travel policies, expenses, and practices within the PRC to determine if travel expenses are properly supported and in compliance with PRC policies and procedures. The scope of our audit will include domestic and international travel expenses paid between October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2022.

The U.S. Postal Service offers customers a way to ship both human and animal cremated remains domestically or internationally, using Priority Mail Express or Priority Mail Express International services. The Postal Service has a Priority Mail Express Cremated Remains box that may be used to ship cremated remains, as well as dedicated labeling. Our objective is to assess the effectiveness of the Postal Service's procedures  for the acceptance, handling and delivery of cremated remains during fiscal years 2020 through 2022.

The Postal Service uses Address Management System (AMS) data to deliver mail to more than 163 million residences, businesses, and Post Office Boxes and is the  database of delivery addresses with associated ZIP Code, ZIP+4 code, and city/state name. U.S. Address information is critical to processing mail through automation to improve efficiency of mail delivery and reduce delivery costs. Our objective is to assess the Postal Service’s management of rural routes in AMS. Specifically, we plan to determine whether the process for maintaining delivery points and other route information is timely and accurate.

Recently, the Postal Service announced their intention to consolidate delivery operations at more than 200 post offices and other facilities into larger, regional hubs known as Sorting and Delivery Centers (S&DC). The purpose of S&DCs is to reduce transportation and mail handling costs, as well as provide customers with additional services. Our objective is to evaluate Postal Service's data models used to determine sites for conversion into S&DCs, cost and savings impacts associated with the conversions, as well as how those plans were communicated to external stakeholders and internally.