[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 471-473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-31361]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. MC2010-17 and CP2010-18; Order No. 373]


New Postal Product

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 Contracts 1 to the Competitive Product 
List. The Postal Service has also filed a related contract. This notice 
addresses procedural steps associated with these filings.

DATES: Comments are due: January 6, 2010.

[[Page 472]]


ADDRESSES:  Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing 
Online system at http://www.prc.gov. Commenters who cannot submit their 
views electronically should contact the person identified in ``FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT'' by telephone for advice on alternatives 
to electronic filing.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Notice of Filing
III. Ordering Paragraphs

I. Background

    On December 23, 2009, the Postal Service filed a notice, pursuant 
to 39 CFR 3015.5, announcing that it has entered into an additional 
Global Direct contract, and seeks to add it as Global Direct Contracts 
1 to the Competitive Product List.\1\ The Postal Service states that 
the instant contract is functionally equivalent to previously submitted 
Global Direct Contracts and is supported by Governors' Decision No. 08-
10, which establishes prices and classifications not of general 
applicability for Global Direct Contracts.\2\ The Request has been 
assigned Docket No. MC2010-17.
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    \1\ Notice of the United States Postal Service of Filing of 
Functionally Equivalent Global Direct Contracts Negotiated Service 
Agreement, and Request to Add Global Direct Contracts 1 to the 
Competitive Products List, December 23, 2009 (Notice).
    \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. As part of 
Governors' Decision No. 08-10, the Postal Service submitted a 
description of Global Direct Contracts which it describes as 
``contracts giving a rate for mail acceptance within the United 
States and transportation to a receiving country with the addition 
by the customer of appropriate foreign postage charged by the 
receiving country.'' Notice, Attachment 4; see also id. at 2, n.3, 
citing PRC Order No 153 at 9 (regarding indirect postage payment).
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    The Postal Service contemporaneously filed a contract related to 
the proposed competitive product classification pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 
3632(b)(3) and 39 CFR 3015.5. The contract has been assigned Docket No. 
CP2010-18. In Order No. 153, the Commission approved the individual 
Global Direct Contracts in Docket Nos. MC2009-9, CP2009-10, and 
CP2009.11.\3\ In Order No 166, the Commission confirmed that individual 
Global Direct Contracts, such as Docket No. CP2009-18, are functionally 
equivalent and should be included in the Global Direct Contracts 
product on the Competitive Product List.\4\ The Postal Service also 
urges that analysis under 39 U.S.C. 3642(b) is ``unnecessary here, 
because such an exercise would merely replicate the Commission's 
determination in Docket No. MC2009-9.'' Notice at 2-3.
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    \3\ Docket Nos. MC2009-9, CP2009-10 and CP2009-11, Order 
Concerning Global Direct Contracts Negotiated Service Agreements, 
December 19, 2008 (Order No. 153).
    \4\ See Notice at 2, n.3, citing Docket No. CP2009-18, Order 
Concerning Additional Global Direct Contracts Negotiated Service 
Agreement, January 9, 2009, at 5, 6 (Order No. 166).
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    The instant contract. The Postal Service filed the instant contract 
pursuant to 39 CFR 3015.5. The contract contemplates a rate for mail 
acceptance within the United States and transportation to a receiving 
country so as to enable a private mailer to directly use certain 
mailing services of Canada Post for deposit in that country's domestic 
mailstream for delivery to an ultimate destination outside of the 
United States. The Notice urges that the instant agreement is 
functionally equivalent to the previously submitted agreements, and 
that it is the immediate successor to the agreement that the Commission 
found to be functionally equivalent and eligible for inclusion in the 
Global Direct Contracts product in Docket No. CP2009-11. Id. The 
contract term is 1-year from the effective date and may be 
automatically renewed unless the parties agree otherwise. Id. at 3-4. 
Since the instant contracts take the place of its immediate predecessor 
and one of the original baseline Global Direct Contracts, the contract 
in Docket No. CP2009-11, the Postal Service requests that the instant 
contract be treated as the baseline for future functional equivalency 
comparisons. Id. at 2. It further requests that Global Direct Contracts 
1 be added to the Competitive Product List, particularly as future 
Global Direct contracts are more likely to resemble this contract. Id. 
In support of its Notice, the Postal Service filed the following five 
attachments:
    1. Attachment 1--a redacted copy of the contract;
    2. Attachment 2--a certified statement required by 39 CFR 
3015.5(c)(2);
    3. Attachment 3--an application for non-public treatment of 
materials to maintain the contract and supporting documents under seal;
    4. Attachment 4--a redacted copy of Governors' Decision No. 08-10, 
which establishes prices and classifications for Global Direct, Global 
Bulk Economy, and Global Plus Contracts; and
    5. Attachment 5--a statement of supporting justification from 
Docket No. CP2009-11, which is included by reference for the instant 
contract to satisfy 39 CFR 3020.32.
    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. Notice, Attachment 5, 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. The Postal 
Service will notify the customer of the effective date of the contract 
within 30 days after receiving all regulatory approvals. Id. at 3-4. 
The related contract at issue under Docket No. CP2009-11 expires on 
January 11, 2010. Notice at 2. The Postal Service also explains that a 
redacted version of the supporting financial documentation is included 
with this filing as a separate Excel file. Id. at 3.
    Functional equivalency. The Postal Service asserts that the instant 
Global Direct contract is functionally equivalent to Global Direct 
Contracts previously submitted under Docket Nos. CP2009-10, CP2009-11, 
CP2009-18 and CP2009-29 because it shares ``similar, if not the same,'' 
cost and market characteristics and therefore the contracts should be 
classified as a single product. Id. at 5.\5\ Further, it contends that 
the contract fits within the Mail Classification Schedule language for 
Global Direct Contracts included with Governors' Decision No. 08-10, 
since ``these agreements are `functionally equivalent in all pertinent 
respects.''' Id. at 5, citing PRC Order No. 85 at 8.
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    \5\ Global Direct services provide 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 that particular type of 
mail established by the receiving country.
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    In addition, the Postal Service contends that the contract is in 
accordance with Order No. 153, which established the individual Global 
Direct Contracts in Docket Nos. CP2009-10 and CP2009-11 as functionally 
equivalent and added the contracts to the Competitive Product List as 
one product under the Global Direct classification. It further asserts 
that the ``instant Global Direct Contract is fundamentally similar to 
that in Docket No. CP2009-11,'' except for differences relating to the 
new array of offerings by Canada Post, national treatment as to

[[Page 473]]

preparation, the term, confidentiality, and price changes.\6\
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    \6\ The Postal Service confirms that it ``is providing the 
customer with price-based incentives to commit to large amounts of 
mail volume or postage revenue for Global Direct, a competitive 
service for delivery of Letter Post items bearing foreign postage 
and indicia.'' Id. at 4; see also id., Attachment 5, at 2.
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    Specifically, some of the distinctions reflected in the Notice 
include (a) Allowing mailers to use Canada Post's domestic Incentive 
Letter Mail Service if the requisite preparatory tasks are performed by 
the mailer; (b) requiring notice to comply with confidentiality rules; 
(c) modifying the term to a full year; (d) clarifying locations for 
tendering qualifying items; and (e) reflecting the price changes of 
Canada Post. Id. at 5. The Postal Service maintains that the 
differences do not affect the fundamental service being offered or the 
essential structure of the contracts. Id. Baseline treatment. The 
Postal Service requests that the instant contract be considered the 
baseline contract for future functional equivalency comparisons of 
future Global Direct contracts ``[b]ecause the Postal Service expects 
the text of any future Global Direct Contracts to resemble the instant 
contract more closely than those in Docket No. CP2009-10 and CP2009-
11.'' Id. The Postal Service has made similar requests for a new 
baseline contract in recent filings.\7\ The Commission intends to 
address the issue in light of all distinct characteristics in a 
subsequent order.
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    \7\ See, e.g., Docket No. CP2009-50, Order Granting 
Clarification and Adding Global Expedited Package Services 2 to the 
Competitive Product List, August 28, 2009, at 3; Docket No. CP2009-
62, Order Concerning Inbound Direct Entry Contracts 1 Negotiated 
Service Agreement, September 4, 2009, at 7.
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II. Notice of Filing

    The Commission establishes Docket Nos. MC2010-17 and CP2010-18 for 
consideration of the Notice pertaining to the proposed Global Direct 
Contracts 1 Negotiated Service Agreement product and the related 
contract, 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.
    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 January 6, 2010. The 
public portions of these filings can be accessed via the Commission's 
Web site http://www.prc.gov.
    The Commission appoints Jeremy Simmons to serve as Public 
Representative in these dockets.

III. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket Nos. MC2010-17 and CP2010-18 
for consideration of the matters raised in each docket.
    2. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Jeremy Simmons 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 January 6, 2010.
    4. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this order in the 
Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Shoshana M. Grove,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-31361 Filed 1-4-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-S