§3705 Transparency and accountability for nonpostal services

Summary

Requires the Postal Service to send the Postal Regulatory Commission an annual report within 90 days after the end of each year. The report must analyze costs, revenues, prices, and service quality for each nonpostal service agreement, groups of similar agreements, and whole programs. The Postal Service must include any nonpublic annexes, working papers, and related materials from itself and the Inspector General. The Inspector General must regularly audit the data collection and submit those audit results to both the Postal Service and the Commission. If the Postal Service gives the Commission material it thinks is confidential or exempt from public release, it must tell the Commission in writing at the time and explain exactly which parts and why. The Postal Regulatory Commission will make rules about the report’s format and content, balancing public transparency, avoiding unnecessary burden on the Postal Service, and protecting commercially sensitive information under section 552(b) of title 5. After getting a report, the Commission will allow public comment, name an officer to represent the public, and decide within 90 days if the Postal Service followed the rules. If the Commission finds noncompliance it must act, and if cost-coverage rules weren’t met it must order fixes within 60 days, which can include restoring lost revenue or stopping a service that keeps failing. For deliberate violations the Commission may impose fines, which go to the Treasury general fund. The Postal Service may run market tests under the same terms as other market tests, and cost-coverage rules do not apply to those tests.