U.S. Postal Service: Better Incorporating Leading Practices for Project Management Could Benefit Strategic Plan Implementation [Reissued with revisions on Sept. 19, 2023]
Fast Facts
The U.S. Postal Service has been on our High Risk List since 2009 due to ongoing financial woes. To help address its financial condition, and improve service, USPS developed a 10-year strategic plan that touches on all parts of its operations.
USPS is implementing its ambitious plan through more than 100 ongoing projects. We reviewed USPS implementation policies to see how well they incorporated GAO leading practices for project management.
We found that USPS could better incorporate leading practices in 5 areas—like capturing lessons learned. We recommended USPS follow these practices to successfully implement its strategic plan.
Revised September 19, 2023, to correct the following pages. On the Highlights, and on page 22, the words “polices” were replaced with “policies.” On page 3, the following sentence was added to footnote 7: PMBOK is a trademark of Project Management Institute, Inc. On pages 6 and 10, text was edited to reflect that the Postal Regulatory Commission reviews and approves postal price changes.
Highlights
What GAO Found
In March 2021, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) published a new 10-year strategic plan called Delivering for America with the primary goals of improving its service performance and financial sustainability. Since implementation of this Strategic Plan started, USPS has reported improved service reliability and some progress towards its financial targets. For example, USPS reported that it had met the fiscal year 2022 on-time delivery performance target of 91 percent for First-Class Mail, an improvement over the previous year's 83 percent. This improvement is, in part, due to changes that USPS adopted in October 2021 to adjust the performance targets and service standards for First-Class Mail and First-Class Packages. USPS also reported in April 2023 that its projected losses decreased by more than half—from $160 billion to $70 billion—in the first two years of the Strategic Plan's implementation.
USPS's policies for implementing Strategic Plan projects fully or substantially met six of 11 selected GAO leading practices for project management. However, GAO found that USPS's implementation policies partially or minimally met five leading practices (see figure).
GAO's Assessment of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Policies against Leading Practices
For example, GAO found that although USPS collects information that could be relevant to a lessons-learned process, it does not have a system to identify or disseminate such information. Given that USPS plans to implement over 100 projects in the coming years, it is especially important to collect and disseminate lessons learned to benefit future projects. By further incorporating leading practices into its policies and guidance, USPS could better realize benefits for its current and future strategic plan projects.
Why GAO Did This Study
USPS has long faced challenges meeting its universal postal service mission, and its financial viability has been an ongoing area of concern. The changes proposed in USPS's 2021 Strategic Plan touch every aspect of USPS operations. USPS's success in achieving its goals depend, in part, on how well the plan is implemented.
GAO was asked to review USPS's implementation of its Strategic Plan. This report examines the progress USPS has made towards meeting the plan's primary goals and the extent to which USPS policies for implementing Strategic Plan projects incorporate GAO leading practices for project management, among other objectives.
GAO reviewed the Strategic Plan and additional USPS reports and policy documents. GAO assessed USPS policies governing Strategic Plan projects against 11 selected GAO leading practices for project management. In addition, GAO interviewed USPS officials and postal stakeholders about the Strategic Plan and its implementation.
Reissued with revisions on Sept. 19, 2023
Revised September 19, 2023, to correct the following pages. On the Highlights, and on page 22, the words “polices” were replaced with “policies.” On page 3, the following sentence was added to footnote 7: PMBOK is a trademark of Project Management Institute, Inc. On pages 6 and 10, text was edited to reflect that the Postal Regulatory Commission reviews and approves postal price changes.Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations, including that USPS revise its Strategic Plan project implementation guidance to incorporate five project management leading practices, including identifying and disseminating lessons learned. USPS agreed with four of the six recommendations, and partially agreed with the other two recommendations. GAO maintains that fully implementing all of the recommendations will benefit USPS's implementation of its Strategic Plan.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to ensure that the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects determine when a project requires an integrated master schedule and require that such a project's team develop and maintain an integrated master schedule for the entire life of the project. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to ensure that the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects include guidance for project teams to integrate existing cost information in project charters or establish performance baselines for project costs and update those cost estimates throughout the life of projects. (Recommendation 2) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to ensure that the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects provide guidance on when project teams are required to conduct a root cause analysis and develop corrective action plans to address variations in expected outcomes. (Recommendation 3) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to ensure that the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects require that independent reviews resulting in activities as well as outcomes of corrective actions are clearly documented throughout the life of projects. (Recommendation 4) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to ensure that the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects include guidance for project teams to review, identify, and disseminate lessons learned prior to, during, and after implementing projects. (Recommendation 5) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| United States Postal Service | The Postmaster General should direct the Office of Strategic Planning to amend the policies and guidance—such as the Strategic Initiative Governance Controls document—used to implement Strategic Plan projects to clarify what qualifies as an exception from the USPS policies used to implement Strategic Plan projects as well as the process for documenting the rationale for such exceptions. (Recommendation 6) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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