Upcoming Audit Work

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 2017, the Postal Service launched the Automated Package Verification (APV) system to detect underpaid postage automatically for PC Postage customers. APV checks shippers' entries against actual weights and dimensions, charging additional postage or refunding overpayments. In 2022, the Postal Service integrated APV into the USPS Ship platform. When discrepancies are found, the Postal Service invoices for additional postage or issues refunds. Our objective is to evaluate effectiveness of the Postal Service’s automated solutions to verify package attributes and charges. Contact us if you have any information or input that might be beneficial to the auditors on this topic.  

In September 2024, the Postal Service published an update to its strategic Delivering for America (DFA) plan. The updated DFA plan provides a roadmap for continued transformation of the Postal Service into a financially sustainable, high-performing organization. The plan identifies several contracted operations, including Terminal Handling Service (THS), Highway Contract Routes (HCR), and Surface Transfer Centers (STC), that were in the process of being insourced as a cost-reduction and efficiency strategy. This audit’s objective is to assess the effectiveness and impact of insourcing operations under the DFA plan.
 

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is responsible for the annual audit of the travel and representation expenses incurred by Postal Service officers. Additionally, we include the travel expenditures of other Postal Service executives in this audit. Our objective is to determine whether Postal Service officers and executive directors’ travel and representation expenses were properly supported, reasonable, and complied with Postal Service policies and procedures.