The United States Postal Service (USPS) failed to accurately track contractor truck accidents and fatalities and its safety controls and oversight were not always effective, according to a new report from the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The recent audit assessed the effectiveness of contract trucking safety controls, compliance and oversight in response to a congressional request from congressman Gerry Connolly, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation.
Report findings
It found that while contractors must provide accident data, USPS did not record this information, despite plans to monitor and track this information within an existing platform. These plans have not been implemented.
Secondly, USPS did not always know who was authorized to transport the mail or enforce the terms and conditions of the contracts or ordering agreements. “This occurred because there was no requirement to report subcontractor authorization or vetting to the postal service, inconsistent policy requirements to provide written subcontractor approval, no authorization tracking system and communication and prioritization issues. As a result, the postal service may lack visibility into the safety performance of contractors and subcontractors,” the report stated.
The OIG also found that the USPS screening processes did not include a contract trucker’s driving history. “We previously reported on insufficient screenings for highway contract route drivers and found similar issues for freight auction drivers, as 241,006 trips filled through the freight auction process were completed by unvetted drivers,” the OIG report stated. “These issues occurred because freight auction is considered a special circumstance. Continued use of the current freight auction driver vetting processes could compromise the safety and security of mail and other motorists.”
Recommendations
The OIG audit also outlined its recommendations for USPS, which include improving its method for tracking contractor accident and fatality data and policies, requiring subcontractor authorization and developing a reporting system, clarifying policies to authorize subcontractors, implementing a mechanism to track subcontractors, validating team drivers and update policies, defining freight auction and updating and enforcing freight auction guidance.
Government response
Congressman Connolly, who received the 2023 Truck Safety Champion Award from the Truck Safety Coalition for his oversight work related to mail contract trucking practices, released a statement on February 29 in response to the OIG’s report.
“In response to my March 2023 request for an Inspector General audit, today, the USPS OIG released a stunning report on mail contract trucking safety and compliance. The title of this report could be ‘Out of sight, out of mind’. The postal service does not have a single written policy requiring the tracking of fatal accidents involving its contractors. We are talking about lives that have been lost. I have met with the victims of these trucking accidents. They want to be seen. The report confirmed several of our worst fears about contract trucking practices at the USPS. The report calls out for legislative action, and we are going to answer that call with the Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act. We are going to fix this. We are going to make sure that these victims and their families are seen.
“First and foremost, the report found the postal service does not have a single written policy requiring the tracking of trucking contractor accidents and fatalities, and it was not until my March 2023 request for an OIG audit that the postal service started to require such accidents be reported to the vice president for transportation strategy. Next week [beginning of March], I will introduce my original legislation, the Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act, which will require the postal service to track accidents that result in serious injuries or fatalities and fully implement the relevant recommendations of the OIG.
“The OIG report also raises serious concerns about the postal service’s lack of visibility and vetting of subcontractors who are handling and shipping the mail. 93% of the contracting officers interviewed by the OIG did not know when their contractors were utilizing a subcontractor to ship the mail despite the fact that ‘using subcontractors without the prior written approval of the [contracting officer] is a major irregularity for which the contractor may be terminated without notice or warning’. As the OIG stated in the report, ‘these deficiencies could allow subcontractors with safety violations to transport mail,’ which remains our top concern.
“The one bright spot in this report is that, coinciding with my March 2023 request, the OIG found that, ‘Beginning in March 2023, the postal service began placing a greater emphasis on the contractor’s safety.’
“In that spirit, I hope the USPS will drop its resistance to many of the OIG’s recommendations and work collaboratively to improve USPS contract tracking safety practices,” Connolly concluded.