U.S. Postal Service: Challenges to Sustaining Performance Improvements Remain Formidable on the Brink of the 21st Century

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has implemented the recommendation that the Postmaster General report to congressional oversight subcommittees on actions taken and planned to address long-standing issues related to the quality of data used in ratemaking, including actions taken and planned to respond to recommendations included in the Data Quality Study conducted by A.T. Kearney. The Postmaster General initiated a periodic reporting requirement by which USPS will, every 6 months, update the House Subcommittee on the Postal Service, Committee on Government Reform and GAO on USPS' progress specific to the Data Quality Study's recommendations. USPS has followed through on this requirement by providing the subcommittee and GAO with two reports in December 1999 and June 2000 on its progress in this regard.

The USPS has implemented the recommendation that the Postmaster General report to congressional oversight subcommittees on actions taken and planned to address long-standing issues related to the quality of data used in ratemaking and specify priorities and time frames for short-term and long-term actions. The Postmaster General reported that the Service had identified 37 unique action items and categorized them into four areas: 1) action items which are being implemented; 2) action items suitable for implementation in the long term; 3)action items requiring further management consideration; and 4) action items unlikely to be implemented. The Service plans to report every 6 months to Congress and GAO on progress in each of these areas.