48788 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / Notices 

1United States Postal Service Notice of MarketDominant Price Adjustment, August 11, 2009 

(Notice) and Notice of United States Postal Service 

of Filing Supplemental Information, August 14, 

2009 (Supplemental Notice). The latter provides a 

spreadsheet with additional data on the Incentive 

Program’s financial impact. The Postal Service 

published implementing regulations in the Federal 

Register on September 2, 2009. See 74 FR 45325 

(September 2, 2009). 

2The Notice was filed pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3622, 

as amended by the Postal Accountability and 

Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006, and 39 CFR part 

3010, the Commission’s regulations governing 

market dominant price adjustments. 

3As discussed below, the Postal Service’s 

responses to Chairman’s Information Requests, 

including its last, late response filed September 10, 

2009, were deficient in several respects and 

hindered the Commission’s ability to evaluate the 

Incentive Program fully. Although still within the 

statutory deadline, this order was delayed, and 

issued two days later than planned. 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

Federal Salary Council Meeting 

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Salary Council 

will meet on October 19, 2009, at the 

time and location shown below. The 

Council is an advisory body composed 

of representatives of Federal employee 

organizations and experts in the fields 

of labor relations and pay policy. The 

Council makes recommendations to the 

President’s Pay Agent (the Secretary of 

Labor and the Directors of the Office of 

Management and Budget and the Office 

of Personnel Management) about the 

locality pay program for General 

Schedule employees under section 5304 

of title 5, United States Code. The 

Council’s recommendations cover the 

establishment or modification of locality 

pay areas, the coverage of salary 

surveys, the process of comparing 

Federal and non-Federal rates of pay, 

and the level of comparability payments 

that should be paid. 

At the October 19 meeting, the 

Council will hear requests for changes 

in locality pay areas, review the results 

of pay comparisons and formulate its 

recommendations to the President’s Pay 

Agent on pay comparison methods, 

locality pay rates, and locality pay area 

boundaries for 2011. The meeting is 

open to the public. Please contact the 

Office of Personnel Management at the 

address shown below if you wish to 

submit testimony or present material to 

the Council at the meeting. 

DATES: October 19, 2009, at 10 a.m. 

Location: Office of Personnel 

Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room 

1350, Washington, DC. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Charles D. Grimes III, Deputy Associate 

Director for Performance and Pay 

Systems, Office of Personnel 

Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room 

7H31, Washington, DC 20415–8200. 

Phone (202) 606–2838; FAX (202) 606– 

4264; or e-mail at pay-performancepolicy@opm.gov. 

For the President’s Pay Agent. 

John Berry, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–23007 Filed 9–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–39–P 

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 

[Docket No. R2009–5; Order No. 299] 

Postal Service Incentive Pricing 

Program 

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Postal Service has 

prepared, and the Commission has 

approved, a special program offering 

reduced rates on certain presorted FirstClass Mail. This document addresses 

related issues and provides pertinent 

details. 

DATES: Effective September 24, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, 

202–789–6820 and 

stephen.sharfman@prc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulatory 

History, 74 FR 41947 (August 19, 2009). 

I. Introduction 

II. Description of the Incentive Program 

III. Comments 

IV. Commission Analysis 

V. Ordering Paragraphs 

I. Introduction 

A. Overview 

The Postal Service proposes to offer 

eligible companies a 20 percent postage 

rebate on qualifying presorted FirstClass letter, flat, and card volumes 

mailed between October 1, 2009 and 

December 31, 2009.1 Under the 

proposal, which the Postal Service calls 

the First-Class Mail Incentive Program 

(Incentive Program), qualifying volume 

is defined as a single company’s FirstClass Mail volume over and above a 

predetermined threshold. Notice at 3. 

For reasons discussed below, the 

Commission approves the Incentive 

Program. 

The Incentive Program is designed as 

‘‘a short-term incentive to use the mail 

and stabilize or grow’’ presorted FirstClass Mail volume in response to the 

current economic downturn and 

declining mail volumes. Id. The Postal 

Service estimates that the Incentive 

Program will generate additional 

revenue of $43 million with a net 

contribution of about $24 million. Id. at 

7. 

The Commission recognizes the 

serious circumstances giving rise to this 

proposal and finds it to be a worthwhile 

effort to generate new volumes of FirstClass Mail, the Postal Service’s flagship 

product. The Postal Service cites the 

Incentive Program as ‘‘an example of the 

increased flexibility provided to the 

Postal Service under the [PAEA].’’ Id. at 

10. The Commission agrees. 

The Commission must comment 

however, that the Postal Service’s filing, 

including its responses to Chairman 

Information Requests, unnecessarily 

delayed this decision.2 For example, the 

Postal Service initially failed to provide 

basic information needed to verify its 

volume and revenue projections, and it 

provided an imprecise and thereby 

confusing description of program 

eligibility, questionable volume 

assumptions, and a less-than-complete 

risk analysis. These problems hampered 

prompt Commission review. 

The revamped ratemaking process 

mandated by the PAEA assigns 

complementary roles to the Postal 

Service and the Commission. The Postal 

Service’s pricing flexibility with its 

attendant shortened review period 

requires that pricing adjustment filings 

be fully documented at submission and 

supported throughout the course of 

review to permit the Commission to 

analyze such filings adequately during 

the accelerated review periods. The 

failure to provide full documentation at 

the outset compromises the 

Commission’s ability to thoroughly and 

expeditiously evaluate proposals. 

The Commission’s rules 

implementing 39 U.S.C. 3622 require 

filings to be fully supported. Moreover, 

the Commission has too frequently had 

to reiterate the need for Postal Service 

pricing proposals to be adequately 

supported and to adhere to accepted 

analytical principles. While not 

disqualifying in this instance, the 

Commission finds it necessary to 

underscore that future pricing 

adjustment filings must be fully 

supported and documented to enable 

the Commission to adequately assess 

their merits in timely fashion. 

Otherwise, the Commission will be 

obliged to defer action on such 

proposals pending the development of a 

more complete record.3


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES