Postal Regulatory Postal Regulatory Commission

901 New York Avenue, NW

Phone: 202-789-6829

Fax: 202-789-6891

Commission Suite 200

Washington, DC 20268-0001

www.prc.gov

Contact: Gail Adams

gail.adams@prc.gov

Press Release

January 30, 2024

Postal Regulatory Commission Affirms its Commitment to Timely Review of NSAs 

and Importance of Innovation

Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission issued a notice today to clarify the 

outcome of a recent Market Dominant Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) approved by the 

Commission. The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to timely review and approval of 

Market Dominant NSA applications that comply with the law and recognized the importance of 

innovation.

In its request, the Postal Service stated that it intended to begin implementing the agreement “in 

January 2024 or shortly thereafter.” The Commission approved the Market Dominant NSA on 

November 22, 2023, consistent with the Postal Service’s request. On January 17, 2024, the 

Postal Service informed the Commission that the mailer had decided not to implement the NSA.

Although the Commission approved the NSA on a schedule consistent with the Postal Service’s 

request, its recent notice blamed a supposed Commission delay for the failure to implement the 

NSA. The Postal Service made this claim even though it never informed the Commission the 

NSA needed to be approved earlier to allow for implementation.

NSAs are specialized contracts between the Postal Service and mailers. When Congress

authorized the Postal Service to enter into Market Dominant NSAs, it required the Commission 

to find that an NSA would either improve the net financial position of the Postal Service or 

enhance its operational performance. The Commission uses accepted analytical principles to

evaluate whether proposed NSAs comply with this law.

The proposed NSA had a novel design that could not be evaluated using the Commission’s 

accepted analytical principle, and the Postal Service’s application did not propose an alternative 
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methodology. In order to comply with the law, the Commission asked the Postal Service to

provide data that could be used to perform an alternative analysis of the issue. The Postal

Service declined to provide this data. 

Rather than reject the incomplete request, the Commission, recognizing the importance of

innovation to counteract mail volume declines, provisionally approved the Postal Service’s 

request. The Commission’s provisional approval included a requirement for data monitoring to 

evaluate whether the agreement performed as projected.

The Commission intended to use the data and experience gained from the agreement to help 

develop a new accepted analytical principle to enable the approval of similar NSAs in the future.

The Commission encourages the Postal Service and its customers to pursue Market Dominant 

NSAs that comply with the law and stands ready to address future, complete NSA filings in a 

timely manner. Proposed NSAs should be based on accepted analytical principles. If the Postal 

Service and its partners believe established analytical principles are inadequate, the 

Commission’s rules provide guidance on proposing an alternative methodology. 

For future Market Dominant NSA requests, the Commission encourages the Postal Service to 

use the guidelines in the Commission’s order number 6949: “COMMISSION RESPONSE TO 

THE POSTAL SERVICE’S NOTICE REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLISHER’S 

CLEARING HOUSE NSA”.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that provides regulatory oversight over the Postal Service 

to ensure the transparency and accountability of the Postal Service and foster a vital and efficient universal mail system. The 

Commission is comprised of five Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed Commissioners, each serving terms of six years. 

The President designates the Chairman. In addition to Chairman Michael Kubayanda, the other commissioners are Vice 

Chairman Thomas Day and Commissioners, Ann Fisher, Ashley Poling, and Robert Taub. Follow the PRC on Twitter: 

@PostalRegulator and LinkedIn.