[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 26, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72087-72088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-28104]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. MC2009-9, CP2009-10 and CP2009-11]


Global Direct Negotiated Service Agreements

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal Service 
request to add Global Direct Negotiated Service Agreements to the 
Competitive Product List. The Postal Service has also filed two related 
contracts. This notice addresses procedural steps associated with these 
filings.

DATES: Comments are due December 2, 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: 

I. Background

    On November 17, 2008, the Postal Service filed a formal request 
pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3642 and 39 CFR 3020.30 et seq. to add Global 
Direct Negotiated Service Agreements to the Competitive Product 
List.\1\ The Postal Service indicates that Governors' Decision No. 08-
10, July 16, 2008, establishes prices and classifications not of 
general applicability for Global Direct contracts.\2\ The Request has 
been assigned Docket No. MC2009-9.
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    \1\ Request of the United States Postal Service to Add Global 
Direct Negotiated Service Agreements to the Competitive Product 
List, and Notice of Filing (Under Seal) Two Functionally Equivalent 
Agreements, November 17, 2008 (Request).
    \2\ Governors' Decision No. 08-10, July 16, 2008, filed in 
Docket No. MC2008-7 establishes prices and classifications not of 
general applicability for Global Direct and Global Bulk Economy 
Contracts, as well as for Global Plus Contracts 2, which combines 
Global Direct and Global Bulk Economy services. In that proceeding, 
the Postal Service indicated that until it entered into contracts 
with customers for Global Direct, it would not ask the Commission to 
establish an individual classification for Global Direct services. 
See id. at 1, n. 1.
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    The Postal Service contemporaneously filed notice that it had 
entered into two Global Direct contracts with customers. Request at 1. 
The contracts have been assigned Docket Nos. CP2009-10 and CP2009-11. 
The Postal Service represents that the contracts' terms fit within the 
proposed Mail Classification Schedule (MCS) language included as 
Attachment A-2 to Governors' Decision 08-10, filed in Docket No. 
MC2008-7. Id. at 2. It claims the contracts are functionally equivalent 
in that they share similar cost and market characteristics, encompass 
customers who send mail directly to foreign destinations and desire 
that their mail bear the indicia of the foreign country, and cover the 
same services to the same foreign destination. Id. at 5-6. The Postal 
Service requests that the Commission classify these contracts as one 
product on the Competitive Product List in the MCS. Id. at 2, 5.
    Request. Global Direct services provides customers with a price for 
mail acceptance within the United States and transportation to a 
receiving country of mail that bears the receiving country's indicia 
and meets the preparation requirements for the particular type of mail 
established by the receiving country.
    The Request, which seeks to incorporate Governors' Decision No. 08-
10 and the record of proceedings in Docket No. MC2008-7, includes a 
statement of supporting justification as required by 39 CFR 3020.32,\3\ 
certifications of compliance with 39 U.S.C. 3633(a),\4\ and supporting 
material filed under seal.\5\ Substantively, the Request seeks to add 
two Global Direct Negotiated Service Agreements contracts as a single 
product in the Competitive Product List. Id. at 1-2.
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    \3\ See Attachment 1 to the Request.
    \4\ See Attachments 2 and 3 to the Request.
    \5\ The supporting materials were filed subsequent to the 
Request on November 18, 2008.
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    In the Statement of Supporting Justification, Frank Cebello, 
Executive Director, Global Business Management, asserts that each 
contract will cover its attributable costs, make a positive 
contribution to institutional costs, and increase contribution toward 
the requisite 5.5 percent of the Postal Service's total institutional 
costs. Id., Attachment 1, at 2. Thus, Mr. Cebello contends there will 
be no issue of subsidization of competitive products by market dominant 
products as a result of these contracts. Id.
    Related contracts. Copies of the specific Global Direct contracts 
were filed under seal a day after the Request was filed. The Postal 
Service notes the contracts are set to begin within 30 days after 
regulatory approvals and are set to expire not later than January 31, 
2010. The Postal Service represents that the contracts are consistent 
with 39 U.S.C. 3633(a). See id. Attachments 2 and 3.
    The Postal Service filed much of the supporting materials, 
including Governors' Decision 08-10 (in Docket No. MC2008-7) and the 
financial analysis for these Global Direct contracts, under seal. In 
its Request, the Postal Service maintains that the contracts and 
related financial information, including the customers' names and the 
accompanying analyses that provide prices, terms, conditions, and 
financial projections, should remain under seal. Id. at 2-4.

II. Notice of Filings

    The Commission establishes Docket Nos. MC2009-9, CP2009-10, and 
CP2009-11 for consideration of the Request pertaining to the proposed 
Global Direct Negotiated Service Agreements product and the related 
contracts, respectively. In keeping with practice, these dockets are 
addressed on a consolidated basis for purposes of this Order; however, 
future filings should be made in the specific docket in which issues 
being addressed pertain.\6\
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    \6\ Docket No. MC2009-9 is reserved for those filings related to 
the proposed product of Global Direct services and the requirements 
of 39 U.S.C. 3642, while Docket Nos. CP2009-10 and CP2009-11 are 
reserved for those filings specific to the contracts and the 
requirements of 39 U.S.C. 3633.
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    Interested persons may submit comments on whether the Postal 
Service's filings in the captioned dockets are consistent with the 
policies of 39 U.S.C. 3632, 3633, or 3642, 39 CFR part 3015, and 39 CFR 
3020 subpart B. Comments are due no later than December 2, 2008. The 
public portions of these filings can be accessed via the Commission's 
Web site (http://www.prc.gov).
    The Commission appoints Michael J. Ravnitzky to serve as Public 
Representative in these dockets.
    It is Ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket Nos. MC2009-9, CP2009-10, and 
CP2009-11 for consideration of the matters raised in each docket.
    2. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Michael J. Ravnitzky is appointed to 
serve as officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to represent 
the interests of the general public in these proceedings.
    3. Comments by interested persons in these proceedings are due no 
later than December 2, 2008.

[[Page 72088]]

    4. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this order in the 
Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Steven W. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-28104 Filed 11-25-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P