[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 202 (Tuesday, October 20, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63482-63483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-26549]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

39 CFR Part 3050

[Docket No. RM2016-1; Order No. 2752]


Periodic Reporting

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing 
requesting that the Commission initiate an informal rulemaking 
proceeding to consider a proposed change to analytical principles 
relating to periodic reports (Proposal Eleven). This notice informs the 
public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other 
administrative steps.

DATES: Comments are due: November 24, 2015. Reply Comments are due: 
December 7, 2015.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 
202-789-6820.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Summary of Proposal
III. Initial Commission Action
IV. Ordering Paragraphs

I. Introduction

    On October 7, 2015, the Postal Service filed a petition pursuant to 
39 CFR 3050.11 requesting that the Commission initiate an informal 
rulemaking proceeding to consider a proposed change in analytical 
principles relating to periodic reports.\1\ A description of Proposal 
Eleven is attached to the Petition. Id. at 1. The Petition seeks a 
change in the statistical point and variance estimation methodology for 
the Origin-Destination Information System--revenue, pieces, and weight 
(ODIS-RPW) system \2\ estimates used in the ``Revenue, Pieces and 
Weight By Class and Special Services (RPW) report relating to letter 
and card mailpieces that will be sampled digitally.'' Petition at 3.
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    \1\ Petition of the United States Postal Service Requesting 
Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider a Proposed Change in 
Analytical Principles (Proposal Eleven), October 7, 2015 (Petition).
    \2\ ``The ODIS-RPW system is a probability-based destinating 
mail sampling system used to support the Postal Service's many and 
varied business needs for mail revenue and volume information. ODIS-
RPW primarily supplies official RPW estimates of revenue, volume and 
weight for single-piece stamped and metered indicia mail.'' Petition 
at 4.
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II. Summary of Proposal

    Under Proposal Eleven, beginning Q2 FY2016 (January 1, 2016), the 
Postal Service seeks to replace the direct expansion estimator for the 
population of digitally sampled First-Class letter and card mail,\3\ 
within ODIS-RPW, with a ratio estimator that utilizes national End-of-
Run machine counts. Petition at 1-2. ``The digital letter mail 
estimates utilizing the ratio estimator applied to the digital letter 
mail sampling frame would be combined with direct expansion estimates 
from the non-digital sampling frame.'' Id. at 2. The Postal Service 
contends the proposed ratio estimator for the letter mail digital 
sampling frame mathematically outperforms the direct expansion 
estimator for First-Class Mail single-piece volume and revenue. Id.
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    \3\ Docket No. RM2015-11, Order on Analytical Principles Used in 
Periodic Reporting (Proposal Three) September 30, 2015 (Order No. 
2739).
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    The Postal Service plans to implement the change described in 
Proposal Eleven on January 1, 2016. Id. at 3. The Postal Service 
asserts that the proposed estimation methodology of the ratio estimator 
is an improvement over the direct expansion estimator and will improve 
the product estimates used for RPW by reducing bias and significantly 
lowering the calculated coefficient of variation for the same sample 
size. Id. The Postal Service states that ``[t]he only significant 
category affected is First-Class Mail single piece letters and cards.'' 
Id. at 4.

III. Initial Commission Action

    The Commission establishes Docket No. RM2016-1 for consideration of 
matters raised by the Petition. Additional information concerning the 
Petition may be accessed via the Commission's Web site at http://www.prc.gov. Interested persons may submit comments on the Petition and 
Proposal Eleven no later than November 24, 2015. Reply comments are due 
no later than December 7, 2015. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Lyudmila Y. 
Bzhilyanskaya is designated as an officer of the Commission to 
represent the interests of the general public (Public Representative) 
in this proceeding.

IV. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket No. RM2016-1 for consideration 
of the

[[Page 63483]]

matters raised by the Petition of the United States Postal Service 
Requesting Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider a Proposed Change in 
Analytical Principles (Proposal Eleven), filed October 7, 2015.
    2. Comments are due no later than November 24, 2015. Reply comments 
are due no later than December 7, 2015.
    3. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, the Commission appoints Lyudmila Y. 
Bzhilyanskaya to serve as Public Representative in this docket.
    4. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this order in the 
Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Ruth Ann Abrams,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-26549 Filed 10-19-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P