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 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.

As part of its Delivering for America plan to achieve service and financial stability, the Postal Service changed service standards to increase mail transported by surface transportation. Specifically, First-Class Mail (FCM) service standards were extended by an additional one-to-two-days, and Marketing Mail standards were also shortened to two days beyond the applicable FCM standard.

Following these changes, nearly all FCM and Marketing Mail moved via surface transportation. However, in fiscal year 2025, air transportation for these mail classes began to rise. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of market dominant mail (FCM and Marketing Mail) transported by the air network.

The U.S. Postal Service is responsible for processing, transporting, and delivering the nation’s 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. The U.S. Postal Service has specific policies and procedures on the proper acceptance, processing, delivery, and recording of Election and Political Mail. Our objective is to evaluate the U.S. Postal Service’s readiness for timely processing and delivery of Election and Political Mail for the 2026 mid-term election. 

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.