Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 120.djvu/3278

 PUBLIC LAW 109–435—DEC. 20, 2006

120 STAT. 3247

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 considers 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 assumptions 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 appropriate 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 generally, the Postal Service, mailers, postal employees, private companies that provide delivery services, and the general 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 relations within the Postal Service may be improved;

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