Reasonableness of U.S. Postal Service Decisions to Pay for Renovating Leased Facilities Which Were Scheduled To Be Vacated and To Contract with the Lessor To Perform the Renovations

Under the Postal Service's Working Conditions Improvement Program, improvements were made to both Postal Service owned and leased facilities. Four specific instances in which the Postal Service decided to pay for renovating leased facilities which were scheduled to be vacated and to contract with the lessor to perform the renovations were investigated in the New York City area.

Service policies and procedures authorized limited improvements to leased facilities even though the buildings were scheduled to be vacated and provided that the lessor be given first option to perform the renovations. Service officials stated that only limited improvements were made to the facilities investigated, and that at the time there were no immediate plans to vacate the facilities. The Northeast Region of the Postal Service has cancelled 104 leases since July 1974, and plans to cancel 18 during fiscal year 1978. There were six instances in which the Postal Service paid for improvements to facilities which have been or are scheduled to be vacated. The Postal Service policies and procedures in this area were reasonable and there is no indication that violations to these policies and procedures occurred in the four cases investigated.