102-192.35—What definitions apply to this part?
The following definitions apply to this part:
Accountable mail means any mail for which the service provider and the mail center must maintain a record that shows where the mail piece is at any given time and when and where it was delivered; examples include USPS registered mail and all expedited mail (see definition below).
Agency mail manager means the person who manages the overall mail communications program of a Federal agency.
Class of mail means one of the five categories of domestic mail as defined by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in the Domestic Mail Manual, (C100 through C600.1.z). These are:
Commingling means combining outgoing mail from one facility or agency with outgoing mail from at least one other source.
Commercial payment processes means mechanisms for paying for USPS postage that are essentially the same as those used by private sector mailers. This means paying for postage before the postage is used (which the U.S. Treasury has determined is appropriate for USPS postage). For meter or permit mail, this also means sending money to the USPS via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) transactions to commercial banks designated by the USPS as their financial agents. For stamps and other USPS services, this means paying the USPS directly via cash, charge card, debit card, and money order, depending on the specific service being purchased.
Expedited mail means mail designated for delivery more quickly than the USPS's normal delivery times (which vary by class of mail). Examples of expedited mail include USPS Express Mail and overnight and two-day delivery by other service providers.
Facility mail manager means the person responsible for mail in a specific Federal facility. There may be many facility mail managers within a Federal agency.
Federal agency (or agency), as defined in 44 U.S.C. 2901(14), means—
(4)
Any establishment in the legislative branch, except the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Architect of the Capitol, and all activities under the direction of the Architect of the Capitol.
Federal facility (or facility) means any office building, installation, base, etc., where Federal agency employees work; this includes any facility where the Federal government pays postage expenses even though few or no Federal employees are involved in processing the mail.
Incoming mail means any mail that comes into a facility delivered by any service provider, such as the USPS, United Parcel Service (UPS), FedEx, or DHL.
Internal mail means mail generated within a Federal facility that is delivered within that facility or to a nearby facility of the same agency, so long as it is delivered by agency personnel or a dedicated agency contractor.
Large agency means a Federal agency whose total payments to all mail service providers exceed $1 million per fiscal year.
Mail means the types of mail described in § 102-192.30.
Mail center means an organization and/or place, within or associated with a Federal facility, where incoming and/or outgoing Federal mail is processed.
Mail costs means direct or allocated expenses for postage and all other mail costs (e.g., payments to service providers, mail center personnel costs, mail center overhead, etc.).
Mail piece design means laying out and printing items to be mailed so that they can be processed efficiently and effectively by automated mail-processing equipment.
Official Mail Accounting System (OMAS) means the U.S. Postal Service's government-specific system used to track postage used by many Federal agencies.
Outgoing mail means mail generated within a Federal facility that is going outside that facility and is delivered by a service provider.
Personal mail means incoming or outgoing mail that is not related to official business of the Federal government.
Postage means money due or paid to any service provider for the delivery of mail.
Presort means a mail preparation process used to receive a discounted mailing rate by sorting mail according to USPS standards.
Program level means a subsidiary part of a Federal agency that generates a significant quantity of outgoing mail (“significant” in this context is relative to the overall size of the agency's mail budget; half of a small annual mail budget may not be significant in a small agency, whereas one-tenth or less might be significant in a large agency). The term program level may apply to an agency organizational entity, program, or project.
Program level mail manager is the person at the program level responsible for mail policy implementation, operations, and financial management; the program level counterpart of the agency mail manager.
Service provider means any agency or company that delivers mail. Some examples of service providers are USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, courier services, the Military Postal Service Agency, the Department of State's Diplomatic Pouch and Mail Division, and other Federal agencies providing mail services.
Special services means those mail services that require extra payment over basic postage; e.g., certified mail, business reply mail, registered mail, merchandise return service, certificates of mailing, return receipts, and delivery confirmation.
Unauthorized use of agency postage means the use of penalty or commercial mail stamps, meter impressions, or other postage indicia for personal or unofficial use.
Worksharing means ways of processing outgoing mail that qualify for reduced postage rates; examples include presorting, bar coding, consolidating, and commingling.