Commercial Payment Proccesses
On June 6, 2002, the General Services Administration (GSA) published an interim rule for mail management in the Federal Register (67 FR 38896) that required agencies to stop using the U.S. Postal Service’s Official Mail Accounting System (OMAS) and start using commercial payment for postage no later than October 31, 2003. A final rule published in the Federal Register on September 29, 2003 (68 FR 56112) extended the date for conversion to December 31, 2003. If agencies did not convert by that date they were required to submit a deviation request to GSA detailing how they were going to eventually make the conversion. Deviation requests could be for no longer than a period of two years. On August 25, 2008, GSA published a final rule (73 FR 49955) that completely replaced Federal Management Regulation 102-192, Mail Management. That final rule clarified the requirement to stop using OMAS.
The primary goal of converting to commercial payment was to improve accountability for postage costs by identifying where they were being incurred within organizations. Another goal was to promote payment of postage costs up front thereby encouraging better planning of resources. The final goal was to encourage overall mail cost reduction.
Many federal agencies found that the deadline was impossible to meet. This part of the website provides guidance on converting to accountability and commercial payment processes as well as guidance for requesting a deviation from the deadline. Please feel free to contact the GSA Mail Policy Team for further guidance and assistance.
Last Reviewed 7/16/2009