OIG: USPS Officials Not Always Following Late Slip Procedures

Postal Service personnel aren’t consistently following the prescribed procedure for reviewing and approving late trip payments, according to an agency watchdog. 

In an April 25 audit, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the USPS studied the process of how the agency handles late trip payment transactions.  

The report studied statistics from fiscal 2021 and 2022, finding that the Postal Service caused around 2.9 million trips to be late, paying around $28.7 million to suppliers for said trips.  

The OIG reviewed 208 of the total 52,446 payment transactions and found that 191, or 92 percent, of those 208 were “not in compliance with multiple policies.” The most common mistakes were missing required supporting documentation, not matching up with Surface Visibility Web data and incomplete forms. 

It is recommended within the report that Postal Service officials develop a plan to monitor compliance and provide a refresher course to administrative officials and contracting personnel in what to do. In its response, the Postal Service said it is redistributing materials to officials and working with them to improve performance. 

The report estimated the Postal Service spent around $12.5 million in unsupported costs annually during fiscal 2021 and 2022, the two years studied in the audit. 

Additionally, the report found that USPS could improve its administration of the lump sum payment process for suppliers. The Postal Service didn’t always “review and validate the accuracy of the e5429 forms in the contract system,” according to the report, which specifically stated that of the 163 lump sum payment transactions reviewed, every one of them didn’t follow multiple polices. 

To that effect, the OIG recommended periodic reviews are implemented to ensure correctness, which Postal Service management agreed with and said it’s working to make sure all officials are educated properly.