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Audit Reports

Jul
22
2015
Report Number:
NO-AR-15-008
Report Type:
Audit Reports
Category: Transportation / Vehicles

Highway Contract Routes-Extra Trips in the Greater South Carolina District

Background

The U.S. Postal Service uses highway contract routes (HCR) to transport mail between its facilities and other designated points. An extra trip is one made in addition to those outlined in the contract; it results in added costs. Extra trips can be the result of late mail processing or early mail collection runs. Management should approve extra trips only when needed to prevent serious delays of preferential mail or when there is excessive mail volume.

The Postal Service uses Postal Service (PS) Form 5397, Contract Route Extra Trip Authorization, to authorize extra trips and PS Form 5429, Certification of Exceptional Contract Service Performed, to certify a trip is complete and payment is due the supplier. If a payment is not made on time, the Postal Service pays interest.

This is the third in a series of reports on HCR extra trips. Our objective was to assess HCR extra trips in the Greater South Carolina District, which was consistently one of the top 10 most at risk districts for extra trips in our Transportation Risk Model. In fiscal year (FY) 2014, Quarter 4, the Greater South Carolina District paid $629,220 for over 1,500 extra trips.

What The OIG Found

The Greater South Carolina District could improve controls over the use and processing of extra trips. We estimate that the Greater South Carolina District could have avoided 199 extra trips totaling $84,307 in FY 2014. These trips were caused by mail processing delays resulting from non-adherence to dispatch leave times and by missent mail. Management could avoid about $84,307 in FY 2015 by eliminating delays and missent mail.

We also determined the Postal Service did not always properly authorize and document extra trips. We identified about 2,800 instances of improper information on about 76 percent of PS Forms 5397 reviewed. Local officials did not always review or authorize the forms and sometimes recorded incorrect trip miles. Consequently, the Greater South Carolina District incurred $519,286 in improperly supported or authorized costs in FY 2014, and could incur about $4,209 in additional costs in FY 2015.

Finally, we determined the Postal Service made nominal interest payments in FY 2014 because PS Forms 5397 were not submitted on time, delaying payments to HCR contractors. The delays occurred because local employees responsible for these functions were not adequately trained and plant managers were not monitoring their activity.

What The OIG Recommended

We recommended the vice president, Capital Metro Area, curtail extra trips by reducing processing, delays and missent mail, provide training on and monitor compliance with extra trip authorization forms, and ensure the forms are submitted on time.

Report Recommendations

# Recommendation Status Value Initial Management Response USPS Proposed Resolution OIG Response Final Resolution
1

R - 1 -- Implement controls and enforce procedures to avoid processing delays and missent mail in order to reduce highway contract route extra trips.

Closed $0 Agree
2

R - 2 -- Train employees to properly complete extra trip authorization forms and monitor compliance.

Closed $0 Agree
3

R - 3 -- Ensure employees submit extra trip authorization forms on time.

Closed $0 Agree