Upcoming Audit Work

The Postal Service manages over 16 million Post Office (PO) Boxes throughout the country, collecting more than $1.4 billion in revenue. As part of its Delivering for America 10-year modernization plan, the Postal Service has taken efforts to improve and enhance PO Box revenue and contribution. Local Postal Service managers and supervisors are responsible for the oversight of PO box service. This audit will assess the management of the Postal Service’s PO Box program, including growth strategies.

Every year, Postal Service employees risk illness and injury while working in hot or cold conditions. Employees exposed to extreme heat or work in hot environments may be at risk of heat stress. Extreme cold temperatures can lower the skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. Our objective is to assess the Postal Service’s safety programs, policies, and procedures for extreme hot and cold temperatures, and applicable controls for training records.

The Postal Service Reorganization Act of 1970, as amended, requires annual audits of the United States Postal Service's financial statements. As part of these audits, the Postal Service adopted policies and procedures that required annual audits of officers' travel and representation expenses. Our objective is to determine whether Postal Service officers complied with Postal Service policies and procedures regarding travel and representation expense reimbursements.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted in August 2022, appropriated $3 billion to the US Postal Service to assist with its fleet modernization. The act provides $1.29 billion in funding for the procurement of zero-emission delivery vehicles (electric vehicles) and $1.71 billion in funding for the purchase, design, and installation of the necessary infrastructure at Postal Service facilities. The Postal Service received the funds on September 21, 2022. Our objective is to assess invoice and payment processes for the Inflation Reduction Act funds. 

The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 required the Postal Service develop its own public, interactive, service performance dashboard that presents data on service performance, FY Targets, and average days to deliver. The Postal Service uses its internal measurement system, the Service Performance Measurement, to track service performance and populate the dashboard. The data used to measure service performance is collected and scanned at three key points:

1. Collections/Acceptance - when mail enters the mail stream.
2. Processing - when mail is processed. 
3. Delivery - when mail is delivered. 

Our objective is to assess the accuracy and reliability of Postal Service’s reported service performance.