The Postal Service spent $2.8 billion on 16,993 Highway Contract Route (HCR) contracts in 2011, according to a newly released audit report by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG conducted the audit to assess the integrity of data in the Transportation Contract Support System (TCSS). OIG found the TCSS data is accurate. In a spot-check of 196 sampled contracts, OIG did not find a single data error. But there was one area of disagreement with management. OIG contended that 94% of the sampled contracts did not have proper funding approval documentation prior to contract award. Postal management disagreed with this conclusion, saying that advance funding approval was obtained through other methods.
Separately, the OIG is currently conducting an audit on the Contract Data Management system used to track facility procurement actions. This study is being conducted because real estate contracting authority resides in the Facilities organization, not Supply Managment. The OIG is surveying the Postal Service’s electronic Facility Management System (eFMS) to gain an understanding from a data and contract management perspective.