Upcoming Audit Work

To prepare for the deployment of electric vehicles, the Postal Service awarded contracts to suppliers in February 2023, to deliver EVSEs or more commonly known as charging stations. EVSE is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging batteries in electric vehicles. After awarding the contract, the Postal Service then validated that system functionality and features fully met the requirement of the contract, through a process known as first article testing. Our objective is to determine whether the Postal Service is effectively testing and monitoring the performance of EVSEs and providing effective oversight over the contract and storage of EVSEs.

As part of its Delivering for America’s 10-year strategic plan, the U.S. Postal Service is allowing a higher percentage of mail volume to be transported by surface transportation rather than air transportation, which is less reliable and more costly. The Postal Service has a limited surface carrier base due to their contracting requirements and is obligated to maintain the safety of the mail and assets to preserve the public’s trust. Our objective is to assess the effectiveness of highway contract route safety controls and contract compliance and oversight.

Under Delivering for America, the Postal Service is redesigning its legacy network to create a best-in-class mail and package processing network. Central to this redesign is the creation of approximately 60 Regional Processing and Distribution Centers (RPDC) to consolidate mail processing operations and create fewer points in their transportation networks. The Richmond, VA RPDC opened in August of 2023, centralizing outgoing mail and package processing in the greater Richmond metropolitan area. The objective of this audit is to assess the operational impacts related to the launch of this RPDC and identify successes, opportunities, and lessons learned.

The Postal Service offers postage rate discounts to mailers for presorting, pre-barcoding, handling, or transporting mail. These discounts incentivize mailers to perform specific activities prior to dropping mail at a postal facility. The Postal Service uses the discounts to increase its operational efficiencies by encouraging mailers to perform activities it would otherwise have to perform. Our objective is to assess the Postal Service’s workshare discount calculation process for select mail products to ensure that the discounts align with avoided costs. The scope of our audit is for fiscal years 2018 through 2022. The estimated report release date is February 2024.

In September 2019, the Postal Service adopted a new centralized hiring process. The goals of this initiative include shortening the time for extending job offers and getting applicants on the rolls, as well as eliminating interviews for most bargaining positions. The Human Resources Shared Service Center is the central processing center for these hiring activities, in coordination with district human resources personnel. Our objective is to assess the Postal Service’s hiring practices for bargaining employees (excluding peak season hires), specifically for mail handlers, clerks, city carriers, and rural carriers.