Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 63 / Wednesday, April 2, 1997 / Notices 15741

like a business. While fulfilling its basic

mission of providing universal service

at a uniform price, the Postal Service

would focus more clearly on the needs

of all of its customers.

* * *The Postal Service shall have as its

basic function the obligation to provide

postal services to bind the Nation together

through the personal, educational, literary

and business correspondence of the people.

It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient

services to patrons in all areas and shall

render postal services to all communities.

39 U.S.C. 101(a).

To carry out this mission of the

United States Postal Service as

described in section 101 of title 39,

United States Code, the organic statute,

a statement of mission was adopted in

recent years:

To provide every household and business

across the United States with the ability to

communicate and conduct business with

each other and the world through prompt,

reliable, secure and economic services for the

collection, transportation and delivery of

messages and merchandise.

A statement of vision was also

developed at the same time and reads as

follows:

Our postal products will be recognized as

the best value in America. We will evolve

into a provider of 21st century postal

communications. We will be the most

effective and productive service in the

Federal Government and markets that we

serve.

The Postal Service seeks comment on

this interpretation of mission and

vision. In addition, the Postal Service

seeks comment on the management

goals discussed below.

With its mandate to operate in a

business-like manner, the Postal Service

developed a 5-year Strategic Planning

Process in the 1980’s. The Postal Service

also has been systematically reviewing

performance and reforming processes.

Since 1994, when the Postal Service

applied the Malcolm Baldrige National

Quality Award criteria to create a

management system that is called

CustomerPerfect!, the Postal Service has

invested in a systematic revision of its

management system, that is currently

using process management tools to

reform processes throughout the

Service.

The CustomerPerfect! process is

designed to provide structure and

discipline to achieve better results for

postal customers. The CustomerPerfect!

management cycle has four distinct

phases which can be described as:

Establish, Deploy, Implement and

Review. The ‘‘Establish’’ phase involves

setting organizational direction,

determining long and near-term goals,

and making decisions about how to

measure progress. The output is a set of

broad goals and subgoals for a five-year

period, as well as a process prioritizing

specific subgoals, targets, and indicators

for the coming year.

The ‘‘Deploy’’ phase involves

communicating goals to the

organization, to seek individual unit

contributions to the achievement of

targets. The ‘‘Implementation’’ phase

requires specific, measurable targets for

improvement. The ‘‘Review’’ phase

involves a periodic check on the system

and its performance, whose primary

value is learning what will help

improve future results.

Therefore, to comply with the

requirements of GPRA to solicit and

consider the views and suggestions of

those entities potentially affected by or

interested in such a plan, and to benefit

from such guidance in the preparation

of its strategic direction, the Postal

Service is hereby requesting public

comment on development of its

Strategic Plan for the years 1998–2002.

Comments are requested in particular

concerning the Postal Service’s

priorities in sustaining and enhancing a

viable twenty-first century Postal

Service, as reflected in the following

goals developed as part of the

CustomerPerfect! process:

(1) Improve customer satisfaction by

offering superior customer value in each

market and customer segment;

(2) Improve employee and organizational

effectiveness by having the right people in

the right place with the right tools at the right

time to consistently provide superior

customer value and ensure commercial

viability in a dynamic environment;

(3) Improve financial performance to

assure our commercial viability as a service

provider for the worldwide movement of

messages, merchandise, and money.

Any comments pertaining to how the

Postal Service can best achieve these

goals, or on other aspects of strategic

planning, goals or performance

measurement will be appreciated.

Stanley F. Mires,

Chief Counsel, Legislative.

[FR Doc. 97–8270 Filed 3–1–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7710–12–P

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

[Declaration of Disaster #2937; Amdt. 2]

State of Tennessee

In accordance with a notice from the

Federal Emergency Management

Agency, dated March 19, 1997, the

above-numbered Declaration is hereby

amended to include the Counties of

Lake and Tipton in the State of

Tennessee as a disaster area due to

damages caused by heavy rain,

tornadoes, flooding, hail and high winds

beginning on February 28, 1997 and

continuing.

In addition, applications for economic

injury loans from small businesses

located in the contiguous county of New

Madrid, Missouri, may be filed until the

specified date at the previously

designated location. Any counties

contiguous to the above-named primary

counties and not listed herein have been

covered under a separate declaration for

the same occurrence.

The number assigned to this disaster

for economic injury is 943200 for

Missouri.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program Nos. 59002 and 59008)

Dated: March 21, 1997.

Bernard Kulik,

Associate Administrator for Disaster

Assistance.

[FR Doc. 97–8366 Filed 4–1–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 2524]

Study Group on Intercountry Adoption

of the Secretary of State’s Advisory

Committee on Private International

Law: Meeting on Basic Concepts for

Federal Implementing Legislation for

1993 Hague Convention on

Intercountry Adoption

The fifth meeting of the Study Group

on Intercountry Adoption will take

place on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, from

9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the main

building of the Department of State in

Washington, DC.

The purpose of the meeting is to

discuss basic concepts for

implementation throughout the United

States of the 1993 Hague Convention on

Protection of Children and Co-operation

in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

The meeting will focus on a concept

paper that will be available from the

Office of the Legal Adviser of the State

Department in advance of the meeting.

The Hague Convention provides

norms and procedures to safeguard

children on the move from one party

country to another in connection with

their adoption and to protect the

interests of their birth and adoptive

parents. It provides, among other things,

for the recognition of adoptions made

pursuant to the Convention, requires the

establishment in party countries of a

national Central Authority with

primarily facilitation and oversight

functions, and requires adoption