Postal Procurement

This fact sheet provides statistics on recent bid protests handled by the U.S. Postal Service's General Counsel and on the agency's related procurement activities. GAO discusses (1) the number and the dollar amount of contracts awarded, (2) the average time taken to award contracts, (3) the number of bid protests filed and their disposition, (4) the number of requests for consideration filed and their disposition, (5) the average time taken to conclude protests and requests for reconsideration, and (6) the Postal Service's policy of delaying contract award or performance when protests are filed.

GAO found that: (1) during fiscal years 1989 through 1992, USPS awarded an average of 135,000 contracts annually; (2) the average annual value of the contracts awarded was $3.8 billion; (3) USPS took an average of 21 calendar days to award contracts during fiscal years 1989 through 1992; (4) protesters filed a total of 342 bid protests during calendar years 1989 through 1992; (5) USPS resolved 295 of the bid protests by issuing written decisions; (6) protesters filed 35 requests for reconsideration of bid protests initially filed during calendar years 1989 through 1992; (7) USPS denied 15 requests for reconsideration, affirmed the initial decisions for 19 bid protests, and dismissed 1 reconsideration; and (8) USPS resolved bid protests filed during calendar years 1989 through 1992 and associated requests for reconsideration in an average of 58 and 25 calendar days, respectively.