Upcoming Audit Work

Our audit will assess whether the Postal Service complied with custodial workhours requirements. In 2014, the Postal Service negotiated to provide custodians with additional compensation if facilities fail to come within 90 percent of their estimated custodial workhours. This requirement was intended to ensure the Postal service had enough custodial staff in facilities and that the custodians were performing the work that justified their staffing. Facilities that do not comply with the 90 percent mandate are required to compensate custodians at the overtime rate via the grievance process.  

From Fiscal Years (FY) 2023 to 2025, the Postal Service paid $56.8 million for grievances due to non-compliance with the 90 percent requirement, an increase from $19.9 million between FYs 2015 and 2018, showing an upward cost trend. In FY 2025 alone, 39 out of 301 processing and distribution facilities and 486 out of 8,453 retail and delivery facilities failed to meet the 90 percent mandate.
 

The Postal Service categorizes employees into two primary groups: career and pre-career. Career employees receive a full range of benefits while pre-career employees do not yet have permanent status and do not receive full employee benefits.

As mentioned in its 10-Year Delivering For America Plan (DFA), the Postal Service began to increase the number of employees converted from pre-career to career positions. However, this increased compensation costs for the Postal Service. Our objective is to assess the financial and service-related impacts of the Postal Service's employee composition.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) amended portions of Title 39 U.S.C. regarding maximum compensation limits for employees, executives, and officers. The Postal Service has limited ability to pay specific executives over the maximum amount allowed by the executive schedule, either through bonuses or additional pay authority. Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Postal Service complied with applicable maximum total compensation provisions of the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) and related Postal Service policies and guidelines for calendar year (CY) 2025.

In fiscal year 2025, the Postal Service spent over $15 billion through contracts to buy a wide variety of products and services, ranging from delivery vehicles to common office supplies. Contracts specify the business requirements, price, payment arrangement, and other terms and conditions for procurement. Given the amount of funds spent and the missions these contracts support, it is critical that Postal Service procurement leaders manage their specific portfolios effectively. The objective of our audit is to evaluate the Postal Service’s oversight of its contracts, including pre-award and post-award processes.

The Delivering for America (DFA) plan, released in 2021, outlines the Postal Service’s 10-year strategy to improve service and achieve financial sustainability. In 2024, DFA 2.0 provided an updated blueprint for its path forward. Since the release of the DFA plan, the Office of Inspector General has integrated independent and objective reviews of its implementation into our work. This is the fourth in our series of DFA oversight reports. Our objective is to evaluate how the Postal Service’s Delivering for America (DFA) plan has evolved since implementation.