Opinion ID: 774858
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: 39 U.S.C. 101(f)

Text: Section 101(f) of title 39 provides: 65 In selecting modes of transportation, the Postal Service shall give highest consideration to the prompt and economical delivery of mail and shall make a fair and equitable distribution of mail business to carriers providing similar modes of transportation services to the Postal Service. 66 Emery argues that this statutory provision prohibits the USPS from awarding a contract for transportation of Express, Priority, and First Class mail to a single provider of transportation services. Alternatively, Emery contends that 101(f) requires competition for the contract at issue. 67 By enacting the Postal Reorganization Act, Congress sought to untie the USPS's hands from the political strings that bound the old Post Office Department. H.R. Rep. No. 91-1104, at 13 (1970) (There is widespread agreement that vestiges of 19th century political patronage practices have persisted in the Post Office Department too long and that one of the cardinal needs of postal reform is to seal the Postal Service from partisan political influence.); Sen. Rep. No. 91-912, at 8 (1970) (The committee simply, and hopefully, recommends that politics in the Post Office be abolished and authorizes the postal service to insure the fulfillment of that policy.). In doing so, Congress endeavored to provide the USPS freedom to act in a business-like manner. H.R. Rep. No. 91-1104, at 5 (1970) (Top management must be given authority . . . to provide an efficient and economical postal system. Postal management has been severely and unjustly hampered in its efforts to administer the Department in a businesslike way.); id. (Ultimately, the mails are completely dependant upon transportation. Yet, the Post Office Department today labors under restrictions on its ability to procure transportation services that are often rigidly confining and in some instances inexcusably archaic.). 68 To effectively and efficiently provide mail service in a business-like manner, the Postal Reauthorization Act provides the USPS with extensive flexibility in its transportation decisions. Sen. Rep. No. 91-912, at 19 (1970) (The committee's primary motive is to improve postal service within the present regulatory framework, while at the same time affording the Postal Service more flexibility and economy in the transportation of mail by air.); id. at 17 (In fashioning its recommendations on mail transportation, the committee balanced the undoubted need of the postal service for additional flexibility and greater economy against the need for improved mail service for all classes of mail.). Section 101(f) does not hinder this flexibility. Rather, 101(f) simply requires that in selecting modes of transportation, procurement contract decisions be fair and equitable. Fair and equitable distribution is not tantamount to equal distribution or distribution to multiple providers. Fairness and equity can be met by an award to a single entity. 69 Further, fair and equitable distribution does not necessitate a competitive bidding procurement process; this statutory provision can be met by a non-competitive, sole-source contract that is based on rational requirements in light of relevant data from several potential carriers. The USPS Purchasing Manual 3.5.5.b also contemplates noncompetitive purchases under certain conditions, as does 39 U.S.C. 5402, which provides: The Postal Service may . . . contract with any air carrier for the transportation of mail by aircraft in interstate air transportation either through negotiations or competitive bidding. Further yet, even if 39 U.S.C. 101(f) required a competitive bidding procedure, Emery would not have had a substantial chance of winning the award because the USPS rationally determined it could not meet the USPS's shared lift requirement based on Emery's significant financial dependence on the USPS.