[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8882-8884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-03327]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. PI2022-2; Order No. 6104]


Public Inquiry on Service Performance Dashboard

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Commission is initiating a proceeding to propose public 
input with respect to the service performance dashboard and other 
questions of data accessibility and usability. This document informs 
the public of this proceeding, invites public comment, and takes other 
administrative steps.

DATES: Comments are due: March 18, 2022. Reply comments are due: April 
7, 2022.

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. Background
III. Invitation for Comments
IV. Ordering Paragraphs

I. Introduction

    The Commission's mission is to ensure transparency and 
accountability of the United States Postal Service and to foster a 
vital and efficient universal mail system.\1\ As part of the 
Commission's ongoing efforts to promote transparency by making its 
public data more accessible and usable, the Commission is in the 
process of developing a new online service performance dashboard. In 
this docket, the Commission seeks public input with respect to the 
service performance dashboard, as well as other questions pertaining to 
data accessibility and usability.
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    \1\ See Postal Regulatory Commission, Strategic Plan: 2017-2022, 
available at https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/Strategic%20Plan%202017-2022%2009222016%20OSA.pdf.
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II. Background

    As a result of its statutory oversight responsibilities, the 
Commission has an extensive catalog of public data pertaining to the 
Postal Service, including information concerning the Postal Service's 
service performance, finances, operations, and rates.\2\ While

[[Page 8883]]

this information has always been available to the public in the form in 
which the Commission receives it, it is spread across a myriad of 
reports and filings in the Commission's docketing system and knowing 
where to look for relevant information is not necessarily intuitive for 
the general public. Much of the data exists in the form of ``library 
references,'' which consist of electronic spreadsheets, workpapers, and 
other supporting material relevant to Commission proceedings, where it 
is frequently included within multiple layers of compressed files. See 
39 CFR 3010.125.
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    \2\ See, e.g., 39 U.S.C. 3652-3653, establishing the annual 
compliance review process. Other statutory areas of Commission 
oversight include 39 U.S.C. 3622-3633 (the Market Dominant and 
Competitive product ratemaking systems); 39 U.S.C. 3641 (market 
tests); 39 U.S.C. 3642 (mail classification changes); 39 U.S.C. 3654 
(required financial reporting from the Postal Service); 39 U.S.C. 
3661 (conducting hearings and issuing advisory opinions with respect 
to nature-of-service changes); and 39 U.S.C. 3662 (hearing rate and 
service complaints).
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    As directed by statute, the Commission prepares reports on an 
annual basis, and these reports highlight and discuss important 
findings, trends, results, etc. with respect to the Postal Service's 
operations, finances, and performance. However, for generalists and 
members of the public who are not postal experts, but who seek to 
obtain specific relevant information relatively quickly, this process 
may seem somewhat opaque. Moreover, there is a necessary lag time 
between the receipt of relevant information by the Commission and the 
issuance of formal reports based on that information. Furthermore, 
statutorily prescribed reporting periods typically cover previous 
periods, such as prior fiscal years, such that the information 
contained in Commission reports can lag what is happening ``on the 
ground'' by many months. While the Commission complies with all 
relevant statutes and strives to make its reports accessible to the 
general public, the Commission is exploring how the information 
contained therein might be made even more accessible.
    Congress has encouraged federal agencies to improve the quality and 
accessibility of their data.\3\ The Commission is required to comply 
with the OPEN Government Data Act,\4\ and the Commission looks to open 
data policies for guidance on transparency initiatives. As part of 
these efforts, the Commission is in the process of developing an online 
dashboard that provides visual data and interactive tools to allow the 
public to view service performance results for many of the Postal 
Service's Market Dominant mail products (and product components) at the 
national level. The data on which these results are based are filed 
each year in Annual Compliance Review (ACR) dockets; but, for the 
reasons explained above, accessing it may not necessarily be intuitive 
for members of the public.\5\
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    \3\ See, e.g., the E-Government Act, Public Law 107-347, 116 
Stat. 2899 (2002); the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act 
(DATA Act), Public Law 113-101, 128 Stat. 1146 (2014); and the OPEN 
Government Data Act, Public Law 115-435, 132 Stat. 5534 (2019).
    \4\ OPEN Government Data Act, Public Law 115-435, 132 Stat. 5534 
(2019), Title II.
    \5\ Specifically, service performance data are generally filed 
in a library reference, typically ``Postal Service Library Reference 
29,'' in ACR dockets. See, e.g., Docket No. ACR2020, Library 
Reference USPS-FY20-29, December 29, 2020 (service performance data 
pertaining to Fiscal Year 2020); Docket No. ACR2019, Library 
Reference USPS-FY19-29, December 27, 2019 (service performance data 
pertaining to Fiscal Year 2019), etc.
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    Consistent with the data that the Commission receives, the service 
performance dashboard focuses on national-level service performance 
results for specific Market Dominant postal products and/or product 
components.\6\ The dashboard does not have the capability to visualize 
geographic data, such as regional or ZIP Code level service performance 
results.\7\ The dashboard reflects information that is already 
available to the public and does not present any personally 
identifiable information. The initial service performance dashboard can 
be found at https://www.prc.gov/dash-deploy.
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    \6\ See 39 CFR part 3055, subpart A, which establishes the 
required level of service performance reporting by the Postal 
Service.
    \7\ The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General 
publishes national, division, and district data based on the 
composite results provided by the Postal Service at the following 
web page: https://www.uspsoig.gov/service-performance. These data 
are not the product-level results (as required by 39 CFR part 3055) 
used to evaluate compliance in the ACR dockets. The national 
composite results serve as public performance indicators used to 
evaluate the Postal Service's progress toward its High-Quality 
Service performance goal. See, e.g., Docket No. ACR2020, Analysis of 
the Postal Service's FY 2020 Annual Performance Report and FY 2021 
Performance Plan, June 2, 2021, at 34-35.
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III. Invitation for Comments

    The Commission invites interested persons to comment on the initial 
service performance dashboard, as well as on the Commission's more 
general efforts to make Postal Service data more accessible and usable 
for the public. Regarding the service performance dashboard, the 
Commission seeks comment specifically on the following discussion 
areas:
     The overall usefulness and desirability of dashboard-style 
visualization with respect to the Postal Service's national-level 
service performance.
     The current dashboard's presentation, usability, 
functionality, and any other features.
     The scope of products and/or product components covered by 
the current dashboard.
     The frequency of desired updates (e.g., quarterly, 
annually, etc.).
     The desirability of being able to download source data, 
and if so, in what format.
    Regarding data accessibility and usability more generally, the 
Commission seeks comment specifically on the following discussion 
areas:
     What, if any, other dashboards should the Commission 
develop that are consistent with the Commission's statutory authorities 
(e.g., postal finances, etc.)?
     What other forms of data visualization should the 
Commission explore?
     Who would be the likely users of Commission dashboards and 
what information they would be most interested in?
     Whether bulk access and Application Programming Interface 
(API) \8\ functionality with respect to Commission data would be useful 
to mailers, postal customers, or other postal stakeholders?
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    \8\ ``An Application Programming Interface, or API, is a set of 
software instructions and standards that allows machine to machine 
communication,'' available at https://digital.gov/2013/04/30/apis-in-government/.
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     What machine readable formats are most useful to external 
users?
    The dashboard linked above is limited to public information 
currently provided by the Postal Service to the Commission for its 
regulatory purposes pursuant to Title 39 and consistent with the 
Commission's regulations. Comments suggesting presentation of data not 
currently provided to the Commission or not currently available to the 
public are beyond the scope of the initial service performance 
dashboard but may be considered for future efforts to the extent 
consistent with the law and the Commission's mission and resources.\9\
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    \9\ The treatment of information and data provided to the 
Commission as non-public material is governed by 39 U.S.C. 504(g), 
3652(f), 3654(f), and 39 CFR parts 3006 and 3011.
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    Comments are due March 18, 2022 and reply comments are due April 7, 
2022. Material filed in this docket will be available for review on the 
Commission's website, http://www.prc.gov.
    Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Manon A. Boudreault is appointed to 
serve as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to 
represent the interests of the general public in this docket.

[[Page 8884]]

IV. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket No. PI2022-2 for the purpose 
of receiving public input with respect to the Commission's new service 
performance dashboard and other questions of data accessibility and 
usability.
    2. Interested persons may submit written comments no later than 
March 18, 2022 and reply comments are due April 7, 2022.
    3. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Manon A. Boudreault is appointed to 
serve as Public Representative in this proceeding.
    4. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this Notice in 
the Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Erica A. Barker,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-03327 Filed 2-15-22; 8:45 am]
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