II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3536 

To amend section 5402 of title 39, United States Code, to modify the 

authority relating to United States Postal Service air transportation 

contracts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mr. CARPER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend section 5402 of title 39, United States Code, 

to modify the authority relating to United States Postal 

Service air transportation contracts, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air Carriage of Inter5 national Mail Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AIR CARRIAGE OF INTERNATIONAL MAIL. 

2 (a) CONTRACTING AUTHORITY.—Section 5402 of 

3 title 39, United States Code, is amended by striking sub4 sections (b) and (c) and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL MAIL.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

7 ‘‘(A) Except as otherwise provided in this 

8 subsection, the Postal Service may contract for 

9 the transportation of mail by aircraft between 

10 any of the points in foreign air transportation 

11 only with certificated air carriers. A contract 

12 may be awarded to a certificated air carrier to 

13 transport mail by air between any of the points 

14 in foreign air transportation that the Secretary 

15 of Transportation has authorized the carrier to 

16 serve either directly or through a code-share re17 lationship with one or more foreign air carriers. 

18 ‘‘(B) If the Postal Service has sought of19 fers or proposals from certificated air carriers 

20 to transport mail in foreign air transportation 

21 between points, or pairs of points within a geo22 graphic region or regions, and has not received 

23 offers or proposals that meet Postal Service re24 quirements at a fair and reasonable price from 

25 at least 2 such carriers, the Postal Service may 

26 seek offers or proposals from foreign air carVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:16 Sep 24, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3536.IS S3536

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1 riers. Where service in foreign air transpor2 tation meeting the Postal Service’s require3 ments is unavailable at a fair and reasonable 

4 price from at least 2 certificated air carriers, ei5 ther directly or through a code-share relation6 ship with one or more foreign air carriers, the 

7 Postal Service may contract with foreign air 

8 carriers to provide the service sought if, when 

9 the Postal Service seeks offers or proposals 

10 from foreign air carriers, it also seeks an offer 

11 or proposal to provide that service from any 

12 certificated air carrier providing service between 

13 those points, or pairs of points within a geo14 graphic region or regions, on the same terms 

15 and conditions that are being sought from for16 eign air carriers. 

17 ‘‘(C) For purposes of this subsection, the 

18 Postal Service shall use a methodology for de19 termining fair and reasonable prices for the 

20 Postal Service designated region or regions de21 veloped in consultation with, and with the con22 currence of, certificated air carriers rep23 resenting at least 51 percent of available ton 

24 miles in the markets of interest. 


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1 ‘‘(D) For purposes of this subsection, ceil2 ing prices determined pursuant to the method3 ology used under subparagraph (C) shall be 

4 presumed to be fair and reasonable if they do 

5 not exceed the ceiling prices derived from— 

6 ‘‘(i) a weighted average based on mar7 ket rate data furnished by the Inter8 national Air Transport Association or a 

9 subsidiary unit thereof; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) if such data are not available 

11 from those sources, such other neutral, 

12 regularly updated set of weighted average 

13 market rates as the Postal Service, with 

14 the concurrence of certificated air carriers 

15 representing at least 51 percent of avail16 able ton miles in the markets of interest, 

17 may designate. 

18 ‘‘(E) If, for purposes of subparagraph 

19 (D)(ii), concurrence cannot be attained, then 

20 the most recently available market rate data de21 scribed in this subparagraph shall continue to 

22 apply for the relevant market or markets. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT PROCESS.—The Postal Service 

24 shall contract for foreign air transportation as set 


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1 forth in paragraph (1) through an open procurement 

2 process that will provide— 

3 ‘‘(A) potential offerors with timely notice 

4 of business opportunities in sufficient detail to 

5 allow them to make a proposal; 

6 ‘‘(B) requirements, proposed terms and 

7 conditions, and evaluation criteria to potential 

8 offerors; and 

9 ‘‘(C) an opportunity for unsuccessful 

10 offerors to receive prompt feedback upon re11 quest. 

12 ‘‘(3) EMERGENCY OR UNANTICIPATED CONDI13 TIONS; INADEQUATE LIFT SPACE.—The Postal Serv14 ice may enter into contracts to transport mail by air 

15 in foreign air transportation with a certificated air 

16 carrier or a foreign air carrier without complying 

17 with the requirements of paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) 

18 if— 

19 ‘‘(A) emergency or unanticipated condi20 tions exist that make it impractical for the 

21 Postal Service to comply with such require22 ments; or 

23 ‘‘(B) its demand for lift exceeds the space 

24 available to it under existing contracts and— 


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1 ‘‘(i) there is insufficient time available 

2 to seek additional lift using procedures 

3 that comply with those requirements with4 out compromising the Postal Service’s 

5 service commitments to its own customers; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(ii) the Postal Service first offers 

8 any certificated air carrier holding a con9 tract to carry mail between the relevant 

10 points the opportunity to carry such excess 

11 volumes under the terms of its existing 

12 contract. 

13 ‘‘(c) GOOD FAITH EFFORT REQUIRED.—The Postal 

14 Service and potential offerors shall put a good-faith effort 

15 into resolving disputes concerning the award of contracts 

16 made under subsection (b).’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 49.— 

18 (1) Section 41901(a) is amended by striking 

19 ‘‘39.’’ and inserting ‘‘39, and in foreign air trans20 portation under section 5402(b) and (c) of title 39.’’. 

21 (2) Section 41901(b)(1) is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘in foreign air transportation or’’. 

23 (3) Section 41902 is amended— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘in foreign air transpor25 tation or’’ in subsection (a); 


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1 (B) by striking subsection (b) and insert2 ing the following: 

3 ‘‘(b) STATEMENTS ON PLACES AND SCHEDULES.— 

4 Every air carrier shall file with the United States Postal 

5 Service a statement showing— 

6 ‘‘(1) the places between which the carrier is au7 thorized to transport mail in Alaska; 

8 ‘‘(2) every schedule of aircraft regularly oper9 ated by the carrier between places described in para10 graph (1) and every change in each schedule; and 

11 ‘‘(3) for each schedule, the places served by the 

12 carrier and the time of arrival at, and departure 

13 from, each such place.’’; 

14 (C) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)(3)’’ each 

15 place it appears in subsections (c)(1) and (d) 

16 and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)’’; and 

17 (D) by striking subsections (e) and (f). 

18 (4) Section 41903 is amended by striking ‘‘in 

19 foreign air transportation or’’ each place it appears. 

20 (5) Section 41904 is amended— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘to or in foreign 

22 countries’’ in the section heading; 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘to or in a foreign coun24 try’’ and inserting ‘‘between two points outside 

25 the United States’’; and 


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1 (C) by inserrting after ‘‘transportation.’’ 

2 the following: ‘‘Nothing in this section shall af3 fect the authority of the Postal Service to make 

4 arrangements with noncitizens for the carriage 

5 of mail in foreign air transportation under sub6 sections 5402(b) and (c) of title 39.’’. 

7 (6) Section 41910 is amended by striking the 

8 first sentence and inserting ‘‘The United States 

9 Postal Service may weigh mail transported by air10 craft between places in Alaska and make statistical 

11 and administrative computations necessary in the in12 terest of mail service.’’. 

13 (7) Chapter 419 is amended— 

14 (A) by striking sections 41905, 41907, 

15 41908, and 41911; and 

16 (B) redesignating sections 41906, 41909, 

17 41910, and 49112 as sections 41905, 41906, 

18 41907, and 41908, respectively. 

19 (8) The chapter analysis for chapter 419 is 

20 amended by redesignating the items relating to sec21 tions 41906, 41909, 41910, and 49112 as relating 

22 to sections 41905, 41906, 41907, and 41908, re23 spectively. 

24 (9) Section 101(f) of title 39, United States 

25 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘mail and shall make 


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1 a fair and equitable distribution of mail business to 

2 carriers providing similar modes of transportation 

3 services to the Postal Service.’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘mail.’’. 

5 (10) Subsections (b) and (c) of section 3401 of 

6 title 39, United States Code, are amended— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘at rates fixed and deter8 mined by the Secretary of Transportation in ac9 cordance with section 41901 of title 49’’ and in10 serting ‘‘or, for carriage of mail in foreign air 

11 transportation, other air carriers, air taxi oper12 ators or foreign air carriers as permitted by 

13 section 5402 of this title’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘at rates not to exceed 

15 those so fixed and determined for scheduled 

16 United States air carriers’’; 

17 (C) by striking ‘‘scheduled’’ each place it 

18 appears and inserting ‘‘certificated’’; and 

19 (D) by striking the last sentence in each 

20 such subsection. 

21 (11) Section 5402(a) of title 39, United States 

22 Code, is amended— 

23 (A) by inserting ‘‘ ‘foreign air carrier’.’’ 

24 after ‘‘ ‘interstate air transportation’,’’ in para25 graph (2); 


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1 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (7) 

2 through (23) as paragraphs (8) through (24) 

3 and inserting after paragraph (6) the following: 

4 ‘‘(7) the term ‘certificated air carrier’ means an 

5 air carrier that holds a certificate of public conven6 ience and necessity issued under section 41102(a) of 

7 title 49;’’; 

8 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (9) 

9 through (24), as redesignated, as paragraphs 

10 (10) through (25), respectively, and inserting 

11 after paragraph (8) the following: 

12 ‘‘(9) the term ‘code-share relationship’ means a 

13 relationship pursuant to which any certificated air 

14 carrier or foreign air carrier’s designation code is 

15 used to identify a flight operated by another air car16 rier or foreign air carrier;’’; and 

17 (D) by inserting ‘‘foreign air carrier,’’ 

18 after ‘‘terms’’ in paragraph (2). 

19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

20 this section shall take effect on October 1, 2008. 

Æ 


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