United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-07-31 monographic deposited born digital 22 p. GA 1.13:GGD-97-163R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R P0b002ee18039fbe0 f:gg97163r DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R GGD-97-163R Strategic planning Agency missions Postal service Public administration Interagency relations Systems conversions Program evaluation Labor-management relations Internal controls Congressional/executive relations USPS CustomerPerfect Initiative Dept. of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige Quality Improvement Award Correspondence GGD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. Postal Service's draft strategic plan, focusing on: (1) the draft plan's compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act's requirements and its overall quality; (2) whether the Postal Service's major statutory responsibilities are reflected in the plan; (3) whether the plan addressed major management problems; (4) the Service's capacity to provide reliable information for measuring results; and (5) whether the plan evidences input from consultations and interagency coordination for any cross-cutting functions.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the Postal Service's draft strategic plan generally includes the six components required by the Results Act and provides useful information on the Service's vision of its future and how the Service plans to achieve its desired results; (2) however, the plan's discussion of some components could be strengthened to better meet the purposes of the Act; (3) overall, the draft plan is conceptually consistent with the Results Act's concept of a systematic management process that uses results-oriented goals and strategies as well as performance indicators to measure progress toward these goals; (4) however, the plan would benefit from a more complete mission statement that conveys the requirement that the Service is to fulfill its mandate to bind the nation together while being largely a self-supporting entity; (5) the general goals and objectives and strategies to achieve the goals and objectives do not cover some of the Service's major functions and operations; (6) while the plan contains a useful chart that helps relate performance measures to general goals/objectives, the Service acknowledges that it is still in the process of identifying tangible performance indicators and target levels to measure progress toward all of its goals; (7) the draft plan generally reflects the Service's major statutory responsibilities and identifies the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act as the basis for its public service mission; (8) however, the plan could better discuss how its overall goals, strategies, and performance measures may be affected by key management problems that have been identified over the years, such as the need to: (a) improve labor-management relations; (b) strengthen internal controls to protect revenues; and (c) ensure the integrity of acquisitions; and (9) the draft plan does not indicate how the views of stakeholders or others were considered as a result of consultations or offer evidence of interagency coordination with executive branch agencies in some areas where coordination might be appropriate. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R.pdf GAO/GGD-97-163R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-163R Correspondence GAO/GGD-97-163R; The Results Act: Observations on the Postal Service's June 1997 Draft Strategic Plan; Strategic planning Agency missions Postal service Public administration Interagency relations Systems conversions Program evaluation Labor-management relations Internal controls Congressional/executive relations USPS CustomerPerfect Initiative Dept. of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige Quality Improvement Award Public Law 91-375