Citation[]
Government Accountability Office, U.S. Postal Service: Update on Electronic Commerce Activities and Privacy Protections (GAO-02-79) (Dec. 21, 2001) (full-text).
Overview[]
This report recommends that the Postmaster General (1) take appropriate actions to help ensure that e-commerce and related initiatives are appropriately identified and maintain accurate and complete information related to the status of these initiatives, (2) follow processes and controls that have been established for developing and approving e- commerce initiatives, and (3) provide complete and accurate information on costs and revenues for the financial data on e-commerce initiatives.
USPS continues to have difficulty defining, identifying, and classifying its Internet-related initiatives, including e-commerce initiatives; and inconsistency remains in the implementation of its processes and controls for developing, approving, and monitoring the performance of e-commerce initiatives. Finally, financial information related to USPS' e-commerce and Internet-related activities is still not complete, accurate, and consistent. The GAO discussed USPS' difficulties with its e-commerce program with the Deputy Postmaster General. He acknowledged the difficulties and described USPS' planned actions for addressing the problems. He stated that USPS intends to be able to provide complete financial reporting on all of its e-commerce initiatives by the end of calendar year 2001.