Upcoming Audit Work

Under Delivering for America, the Postal Service is targeting key markets where they can aggregate delivery units into fewer, larger, centrally located Sorting and Delivery Centers (S&DCs), to provide faster and more reliable mail and package delivery over a greater geographic area. The Postal Service plans to deploy over 400 new S&DCs in the next few years, with 21 conversions being implemented in February 2024. The objective of this audit is to evaluate service performance before and after implementation of the new Everett, WA S&DC – which will occur as part of the February 2024 conversions.

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 U.S. Postal Service has specific policies and procedures on the proper acceptance, processing, delivery, and recording of Election and Political Mail. Election Mail is any mailpiece that an authorized election official creates for voters participating in the election process and includes ballots and voter registration materials. Political Mail is any mailpiece created by a registered political candidate, a campaign committee, or a committee of a political party for political campaign purposes. Our objective is to evaluate the U.S. Postal Service’s readiness for timely processing and delivery of Election and Political Mail for the 2024 general election.

The Delivering for America plan has put at the forefront the need for new equipment that has the capacity to allow for the consolidation of package processing in new modernized facilities. A key component of this is the acquisition and deployment of the Matrix Regional Sorter (MaRS). The MaRS is a new package processing machine designed to simultaneously process both outgoing and incoming packages at a higher throughput, and provide increased efficiency within a smaller operational footprint, compared to existing machines. The objective of this audit is to evaluate the planning, deployment, and initial performance of the MaRS.

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.