Federal Reports

Contractor approved temporary living allowance (TLA) for contract employee based on a claim of permanent residence when the residence claimed was actually owned by the contract employee’s father and rented at a low monthly rate that was paid sporadically. The contract between TVA and the contractor explicitly forbids the approval of TLA when the arrangement for the residence claimed is not part of an “arm’s length” transaction. The contractor was aware of its employee’s rental arrangement with his father and, yet, approved the payment of TLA which was subsequently billed to TVA.

The Castle Rock Main Post Office (MPO) is in the Colorado/Wyoming District of the WestPac Area. This audit was designed to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on potential scanning, mail delivery, and customer service operations risks at the Castle Rock MPO. The unit has 33 city routes which are delivered by 46 city carriers. The unit also has 20 Contract Delivery Service (CDS) routes which are delivered by CDS route contract owners and their substitute employees. We chose the Castle Rock MPO based on the number of stop-the-clock (STC) scans occurring at the delivery unit. Our objective was to evaluate select mail delivery and customer service operations and determine whether internal controls were effective at the Castle Rock MPO, Castle Rock, CO.