[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 221 (Friday, November 14, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 67455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27055]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

39 CFR Part 3001

[Docket No. RM2009-1; Order No. 130]


Periodic Reporting Rules

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule; availability of rulemaking petition.

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SUMMARY: Under a new law, the Postal Service must file an annual 
compliance report with the Postal Regulatory Commission on costs, 
revenues, rates, and quality of service associated with its products. 
It has filed documents with the Commission to change some of the 
methods it uses to compile the fiscal year 2008 report. In the 
Commission's view, these documents constitute a rulemaking petition. 
Therefore, this document provides an opportunity for the public to 
comment on potential changes in periodic reporting rules.

DATES: 1. Reserved for technical conference: November 21, 2008.
    2. Initial comments: December 1, 2008.
    3. Reply comments: December 10, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing 
Online system at http://www.prc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, 
202-789-6820 and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory History

    73 FR 51983 (September 8, 2008).
    73 FR 55464 (September 25, 2008).
    On November 4, 2008, the Postal Service filed a petition to 
initiate an informal rulemaking proceeding to change accepted costing 
methods for purposes of periodic reporting.\1\ The informal rulemaking 
procedures proposed would be comparable to those followed in Docket 
Nos. RM2008-2 and RM2008-6. In Docket No. RM2008-2, nine numbered 
proposals were the subject of notice and comment rulemaking procedures. 
In Docket No. RM2008-6, the Postal Service proposed two additional 
proposals to change costing methods, numbered ten and eleven. The 
costing proposals in these dockets were evaluated in Order No. 115 
(October 10, 2008), and Order No. 118 (October 22, 2008), respectively. 
The Postal Service refers to the change in accepted cost methods that 
it proposes in this docket as Proposal Twelve. Labeling it Proposal 
Twelve indicates that the proposal is sequential to, but 
distinguishable from, the proposals in the two earlier dockets. See 
Petition at 1.
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    \1\ Petition of the United States Postal Service Requesting 
Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider Further Proposed Methodology 
Changes for the FY 2008 ACR (Proposal Twelve), November 4, 2008 
(Petition).
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    Substance of the Postal Service's proposal. Proposal Twelve is a 
proposal to use data recently gathered in the field to update inputs 
used in the cost avoidance models for flats generally, and for 
Periodicals flats, in particular. Some new parameters for these models 
are proposed as well. Proposal Twelve continues the work of updating 
the Periodicals cost avoidance models that were first presented by the 
Postal Service in the FY 2007 Annual Compliance Report (ACR) and 
evaluated by the Commission in the FY 2007 Annual Compliance 
Determination (ACD). The petition explains that the Postal Service will 
soon provide similar updates of the First-Class and Standard Mail flats 
cost avoidance models.
    The petition is accompanied by electronic attachments that contain 
the new input data, the sample designs used in their collection, and 
the instructions to the data collectors. The petition explains the 
background, objectives, and rationale for Proposal Twelve, and how the 
impact in FY 2008 of each proposed change in input data or parameters 
can be identified from the attachments provided.
    Procedural expedition. The same factors that led the Commission to 
expedite review of the eleven proposals disposed of in Docket Nos. 
RM2008-2 and RM2008-6 apply here. The set of changes that make up 
Proposal Twelve, however, appears to be more substantial and more 
complex than many of those evaluated in Docket Nos. RM2008-2 and 
RM2008-6. A countervailing consideration is that the time remaining 
before the FY 2008 ACR is due is much shorter than in those earlier 
dockets. Balancing these conflicting considerations will be difficult, 
given the rapidly approaching holidays and year-end convergence of 
numerous regulatory deadlines.
    The Postal Service explains that any technical conference deemed 
necessary to further explain Proposal Twelve would require it to bring 
consultants in from out of town. Therefore, it requests that a 
technical conference not be scheduled ahead of time until the need for 
it is confirmed. Id. at 2. The Postal Service should reserve November 
21, 2008, for a technical conference to take place if the Commission is 
ultimately persuaded that a technical conference is needed to expedite 
evaluation of Proposal Twelve. To allow for the possibility of a 
technical conference and, if held, to provide time for the information 
gained at such a conference to be reflected in public comments, 
comments on Proposal Twelve are due on or before December 1, 2008. 
Reply comments are due on December 10, 2008. This schedule may make it 
difficult to issue a final order in time to have these proposals 
reflected in the FY 2008 ACR, which is due on December 29, 2008, but at 
least that goal would remain a possibility.
    It is Ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket No. RM2009-1 to consider the 
Petition of the United States Postal Service Requesting Initiation of a 
Proceeding To Consider Further Proposed Methodology Changes for the FY 
2008 ACR (Proposal Twelve), filed November 4, 2008.
    2. Interested persons may submit initial comments on or before 
December 1, 2008.
    3. Reply comments may be submitted on or before December 10, 2008.
    4. William C. Miller is designated as the Public Representative 
representing the interests of the general public in this proceeding.
    5. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this notice in 
the Federal Register.

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3652.

    By the Commission.
Steven W. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-27055 Filed 11-13-08; 8:45 am]
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