Background
The U.S. Postal Service has 50 authorized officer positions, including the postmaster general, deputy postmaster general, and all vice presidents. The Postal Service had 48 active officers, including acting officers, and one executive level employee who graduated from an accredited degree program during the fiscal year (FY) 2024. Officers and the one employee filed 1,116 expense reimbursement requests totaling $1,403,685.
Further, the Postal Service hired limited-term contract employees who were not officers, but management elected for their travel reimbursement requests to receive the same level of review as officers. During FY 2024, the contract employees filed 70 reimbursement requests, totaling $97,686.
What We Did
Our objective was to determine whether Postal Service officers complied with policies and procedures regarding travel and representation expense reimbursements. We reviewed a sample of 60 reimbursement requests totaling $178,823 from FY 2024.
What We Found
For the travel and representation expense reimbursements we reviewed, Postal Service officers properly supported the reimbursements and generally complied with Postal Service policies and procedures. We identified one issue where Travel and Relocation coordinated travel arrangements for an employee to stay in corporate housing rather than a hotel because there were no hotels available at the government rate. The Postal Service processed the request without written approval. Postal Service policy requires all approved deviations to be documented in a memorandum and attached to an employee’s expense report. We communicated this issue to Postal Service management.
Recommendations and Management’s Comments
Based on the audit results, we did not make any recommendations. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General considers management’s comments responsive to the finding in the report.