Federal Reports

A Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) is a customized and mutually beneficial contractual agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and a specific mailer, customer, or organization to retain price-sensitive customers and encourage additional mail volume and revenue. An NSA provides for customized classifications and pricing under the terms and conditions established in the NSA and may include modifications to current mailing standards and other Postal Service requirements. Our objective was to assess processes, methodologies, accuracy of data, and internal controls for pricing competitive outbound international NSAs. We reviewed NSA data related to cost coverage, inflation, and contingency factors for fiscal years (FY) 2018 through 2021. We also reviewed Postal Service policies and procedures for minimum revenue commitments of NSAs, and FY 2021 through FY 2022, Quarter 2, data to determine the number of customers not meeting minimum revenue commitments.

For our final report on our audit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA's) next-generation satellite system architecture, our objective was to assess NOAA's progress planning and implementing this architecture. We found the following: I. NOAA requirements management practices need improvement; and II. NOAA should improve tools in support of observing system portfolio management.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Kent Main Post Office (MPO) in Kent, WA (Project Number 22-096). The Kent MPO is in the Washington District of the WestPac Area and services ZIP Codes 98030, 98031, and 98032, which serves about 105,501 people and is considered to be an urban community. We judgmentally selected the Kent MPO based on the number of stop-the-clock3 (STC) scans occurring at the delivery unit, rather than at the customer’s point of delivery.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Lacey Branch in Lacey, WA (Project Number 22-098). The Lacey Branch is in the Washington District of the WestPac Area and services ZIP Codes 98513 and 98516, which serves about 51,113 people and is considered an urban community. We judgmentally selected the Lacey Branch based on the number of customer inquiries the unit received related to package tracking and mail delivery delays. From December 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022, the unit received 25.65 inquiries per route, which was more than the average of 12.28 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Seattle Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).