H. R. 6407—49
SEC. 706. GREATER DIVERSITY IN POSTAL SERVICE EXECUTIVE AND 
ADMINISTRATIVE SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT POSITIONS. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—The Board of Governors shall study and, 
within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, submit 
to the President and Congress a report concerning the extent to 
which women and minorities are represented in supervisory and 
management positions within the United States Postal Service. 
Any data included in the report shall be presented in the aggregate 
and by pay level. 
(b) PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS.—The United States Postal 
Service shall, as soon as is practicable, take such measures as 
may be necessary to incorporate the affirmative action and equal 
opportunity criteria contained in 4313(5) of title 5, United States 
Code, into the performance appraisals of senior supervisory or 
managerial employees. 
SEC. 707. CONTRACTS WITH WOMEN, MINORITIES, AND SMALL 
BUSINESSES. 
The Board of Governors shall study and, within 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, submit to the President 
and the Congress a report concerning the number and value of 
contracts and subcontracts the Postal Service has entered into 
with women, minorities, and small businesses. 
SEC. 708. RATES FOR PERIODICALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Postal Service, acting 
jointly with the Postal Regulatory Commission, shall study and 
submit to the President and Congress a report concerning—
(1) the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the informa-
tion used by the Postal Service in determining the direct and 
indirect postal costs attributable to periodicals; and 
(2) any opportunities that might exist for improving effi-
ciencies in the collection, handling, transportation, or delivery 
of periodicals by the Postal Service, including any pricing incen-
tives for mailers that might be appropriate.
(b) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The report shall include recommenda-
tions for any administrative action or legislation that might be 
appropriate. 
SEC. 709. ASSESSMENT OF CERTAIN RATE DEFICIENCIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 12 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Office of Inspector General of the United 
States Postal Service shall study and submit to the President, 
the Congress, and the United States Postal Service, a report con-
cerning the administration of section 3626(k) of title 39, United 
States Code. 
(b) SPECIFIC
REQUIREMENTS.—The study and report shall 
specifically address the adequacy and fairness of the process by 
which assessments under section 3626(k) of title 39, United States 
Code, are determined and appealable, including—
(1) whether the Postal Regulatory Commission or any other 
body outside the Postal Service should be assigned a role; 
and 
(2) whether a statute of limitations should be established 
for the commencement of proceedings by the Postal Service 
thereunder.
H. R. 6407—50
SEC. 710. ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE BUSINESS MODEL OF THE POSTAL 
SERVICE. 
(a) GOVERNMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY
OFFICE
MANDATE.—The 
Comptroller General of the United States shall prepare and submit 
to the President and Congress a report that builds upon the work 
of the 2002 President’s Commission on the United States Postal 
Service by evaluating in-depth various options and strategies for 
the long-term structural and operational reforms of the United 
States Postal Service. The final report required by this section 
shall be submitted within 5 years of the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
(b) PROTECTION
OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—The Government 
Accountability Office may include such recommendations as it con-
siders appropriate with respect to how the Postal Service’s business 
model can be maintained or transformed in an orderly manner 
that will minimize adverse effects on all interested parties and 
assure continued availability of affordable, universal postal service 
throughout the United States. The Government Accountability 
Office shall not consider any strategy or other course of action 
that would pose a significant risk to the continued availability 
of affordable, universal postal service throughout the United States. 
(c) ELEMENTS OF REPORT.—
(1) TOPICS TO ADDRESS.—The report shall address at least 
the following: 
(A) Specification of nature and bases of one or more 
sets of reasonable assumptions about the development of 
the postal services market, to the extent that such assump-
tions may be necessary or appropriate for each strategy 
identified by the Government Accountability Office. 
(B) Specification of the nature and bases of one or 
more sets of reasonable assumptions about the development 
of the regulatory framework for postal services, to the 
extent that such assumptions may be necessary or appro-
priate for each strategy identified by the Government 
Accountability Office. 
(C) Qualitative and, to the extent possible, quantitative 
effects that each strategy identified by the Government 
Accountability Office may have on universal service gen-
erally, the Postal Service, mailers, postal employees, pri-
vate companies that provide delivery services, and the gen-
eral public. 
(D) Financial effects that each strategy identified by 
the Government Accountability Office may have on the 
Postal Service, postal employees, the Treasury of the 
United States, and other affected parties, including the 
American mailing consumer. 
(E) Feasible and appropriate procedural steps and 
timetables for implementing each strategy identified by 
the Government Accountability Office. 
(F) Such additional topics as the Comptroller General 
shall consider necessary and appropriate. 
(2) MATTERS TO CONSIDER.—For each strategy identified, 
the Government Accountability Office shall assess how each 
business model might—
(A) address the human-capital challenges facing the 
Postal Service, including how employee-management rela-
tions within the Postal Service may be improved;
H. R. 6407—51
(B) optimize the postal infrastructure, including the 
best methods for providing retail services that ensure con-
venience and access to customers; 
(C) ensure the safety and security of the mail and 
of postal employees; 
(D) minimize areas of inefficiency or waste and improve 
operations involved in the collection, processing, or delivery 
of mail; and 
(E) impact other matters that the Comptroller General 
determines are relevant to evaluating a viable long-term 
business model for the Postal Service. 
(3) EXPERIENCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES.—In preparing the 
report required by subsection (a), the Government Account-
ability Office shall comprehensively and quantitatively inves-
tigate the experiences of other industrialized countries that 
have transformed the national post office. The Government 
Accountability Office shall undertake such original research 
as it deems necessary. In each case, the Government Account-
ability Office shall describe as fully as possible the costs and 
benefits of transformation of the national post office on all 
affected parties and shall identify any lessons that foreign 
experience may imply for each strategy identified by the 
research organization. 
(d) OUTSIDE EXPERTS.—In preparing its study, the Government 
Accountability Office may retain the services of additional experts 
and consultants. 
(e) CONSULTATION.—In preparing its report, the Government 
Accountability Office shall consult fully with the Postal Service, 
the Postal Regulatory Commission, other Federal agencies, postal 
employee unions and management associations, mailers, private 
companies that provide delivery services, and the general public. 
The Government Accountability Office shall include with its final 
report a copy of all formal written comments received under this 
subsection. 
(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated from the Postal Service Fund such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out this section. 
SEC. 711. PROVISIONS RELATING TO COOPERATIVE MAILINGS. 
(a) STUDY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Postal Regulatory Commission shall 
examine section E670.5.3 of the Domestic Mail Manual to deter-
mine whether it contains adequate safeguards to protect 
against—
(A) abuses of rates for nonprofit mail; and 
(B) deception of consumers. 
(2) REPORT.—The Commission shall report the results of 
its examination to the Postal Service, along with any rec-
ommendations that the Commission determines appropriate. 
(b) FAILURE
TO ACT.—If the Postal Service fails to act on 
the recommendations of the Commission, the Commission may take 
such action as it determines necessary to prevent abuse of rates 
or deception of consumers. 
SEC. 712. DEFINITION. 
For purposes of this title, the term ‘‘Board of Governors’’ has 
the meaning given such term by section 102 of title 39, United 
States Code.
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TITLE VIII—POSTAL SERVICE RETIRE-
MENT AND HEALTH BENEFITS FUND-
ING 
SEC. 801. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Postal Civil Service Retirement 
and Health Benefits Funding Amendments of 2006’’. 
SEC. 802. CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended—
(1) in section 8334(a)(1)(B), by striking clause (ii) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(ii) In the case of an employee of the United States Postal 
Service, no amount shall be contributed under this subparagraph.’’; 
and 
(2) by amending section 8348(h) to read as follows: 
‘‘(h)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘Postal surplus or supple-
mental liability’ means the estimated difference, as determined 
by the Office, between—
‘‘(A) the actuarial present value of all future benefits pay-
able from the Fund under this subchapter to current or former 
employees of the United States Postal Service and attributable 
to civilian employment with the United States Postal Service; 
and 
‘‘(B) the sum of—
‘‘(i) the actuarial present value of deductions to be 
withheld from the future basic pay of employees of the 
United States Postal Service currently subject to this sub-
chapter under section 8334; 
‘‘(ii) that portion of the Fund balance, as of the date 
the Postal surplus or supplemental liability is determined, 
attributable to payments to the Fund by the United States 
Postal Service and its employees, minus benefit payments 
attributable to civilian employment with the United States 
Postal Service, plus the earnings on such amounts while 
in the Fund; and 
‘‘(iii) any other appropriate amount, as determined by 
the Office in accordance with generally accepted actuarial 
practices and principles. 
‘‘(2)(A) Not later than June 15, 2007, the Office shall determine 
the Postal surplus or supplemental liability, as of September 30, 
2006. If that result is a surplus, the amount of the surplus shall 
be transferred to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund 
established under section 8909a by June 30, 2007. 
‘‘(B) The Office shall redetermine the Postal surplus or supple-
mental liability as of the close of the fiscal year, for each fiscal 
year beginning after September 30, 2007, through the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2038. If the result is a surplus, that amount 
shall remain in the Fund until distribution is authorized under 
subparagraph (C). Beginning June 15, 2017, if the result is a 
supplemental liability, the Office shall establish an amortization 
schedule, including a series of annual installments commencing 
on September 30 of the subsequent fiscal year, which provides 
for the liquidation of such liability by September 30, 2043.