Husch Blackwell’s Postal Service Contracting practice group today released its list of the top 150 U.S. Postal Service suppliers for fiscal year 2010, and for the eighth straight year FedEx claimed the No. 1 spot with Northrop Grumman jumping from fourth to second. The list is compiled by David P. Hendel, a partner in the firm who has served clients’ postal contracting needs for 29 years. This is the 15th year for the list.

First-place FedEx transports Express, Priority and First Class Mail, and earned postal revenues of $1.372 billion in fiscal 2010 – falling slightly from the $1.4 billion it earned in fiscal 2009. Another postal competitor, United Parcel Service, is the Postal Service’s 11th largest postal supplier, earning $95 million in revenue – a $12 million increase from last year.

“Once again, transportation and technology providers stand atop the list of the Postal Service’s largest suppliers,” said Hendel, who compiles the list from information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. “But unlike last year, in fiscal 2010 more top suppliers had declines rather than gains in postal revenues.” The sharp decline seen in postal spending over the previous several years has stabilized; spending in FY 2010 totaled $12 billion, a 1 percent decrease over FY 2009. By contrast, postal spending in FY 2009 declined more 19 percent from FY 2008.

Second-place automation supplier Northrop Grumman earned $494 million in postal revenues. Northrop Grumman provides automation design, equipment fabrication, field deployment and logistics support to the Postal Service.

Other companies in the top 10 include third-ranked Kalitta Air, an air transportation and mail distribution service for military mail bound for Iraq and Afghanistan; trucking contractor Pat Salmon & Sons, Inc. in fourth place; systems manufacturer Siemens in fifth; computer company Hewlett-Packard in sixth; transportation company Wheeler Bros., Inc. in seventh; advertising agency Campbell-Ewald in eighth; consulting company Accenture in ninth; and the number 10 spot was secured by technology company IBM.

“Opportunities for facility contractors continue to decline in 2011 as the agency is unlikely to build many new facilities in a time of decreasing mail volume,” Hendel said. “But opportunities do exist for modifying existing facilities and retrofitting facilities for energy conservation purposes.”

Other trends identified in FY 2010 figures:

* Increased spending on ground transportation – up 5.3 percent from FY 2009
* Decreased spending on domestic air transportation – down 2 percent
* Decreased spending on international air transportation – down 26 percent
* Spending on supplies and services remained stable

Click here to view the full list of the top 150 suppliers to the U.S. Postal Service in 2010.

The firm’s Postal Service Contracting group assists clients in contracting with the U.S. Postal Service, and its members are knowledgeable regarding the needs specific to the postal industry. Hendel has developed and presented several training courses on postal contracting. He also writes a monthly column on postal contracting issues for the National Star Route Mail Contractors Association. He has represented hundreds of postal contractors on a wide range of issues.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) slammed the USPS again for safety violations — this time for under-recording workplace injuries and illnesses. In recent months, OSHA found 242 instances of recordkeeping violations during inspections of 10 postal facilities.

“OSHA believes that under-recording of injuries and illnesses may be a pervasive problem at the USPS,” wrote Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for OSHA, in a Jan. 4 letter to the Postal Service [PDF].

“The percentage of the inspected facilities with violations is indicative of a systemic failure by the USPS” in properly maintaining logs of work-related illness and injuries, Michaels wrote.

In recent months, OSHA received more than 170 worker complaints alleging ergonomic hazards at Processing & Distribution Centers (P&DCs) nationwide. OSHA selected 10 of the facilities for inspection, and “found numerous problems with the USPS practices regarding OSHA’s injury and illness recordkeeping requirements,” Michaels wrote.

Inspectors issued the Postal Service 37 citations after finding that the USPS failed to record injuries; the number of lost or restricted days; accurately describe injuries; complete proper OSHA forms; record injuries within seven days, and failed to review injury and illness logs for accuracy.

The most common violations were failure to record injuries, which was found at six sites, and failure to accurately describe injuries, which occurred at four facilities.

In response to the findings, OSHA “strongly suggested” that the Postal Service “do a thorough evaluation of recordkeeping at all of its postal facilities” to ensure that all work-related illness and injury logs for calendar years 2006 to present have been properly maintained, and to correct any errors. OSHA also recommended that the USPS “evaluate its general recordkeeping policies,” and provide training for employees required to perform recordkeeping duties to ensure practices are accurate.

“Accurate records are one of the key ways to identify and predict accident trends, and to target corrective measures,” said Corey Thompson, the union’s Safety and Health Specialist. “The problem of improper recordkeeping of workplace injuries and illness is a priority safety issue for the APWU in 2011.”

Michaels said OSHA will conduct 20 to 30 annual follow-up inspections of USPS facilities selected at random to ensure compliance with recordkeeping requirements. Facilities that fail to do so, or do not correct OSHA logs for the past three years, will be subject to “willful and repeat citations,” he wrote.

The 10 OSHA inspections were conducted at P&DCs in Chicago, IL; Lehigh Valley, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Mankato, MN; Seattle, WA; Wareham, MA; Madison, WI; Cayce, SC; Orlando, FL, and Providence, RI. The only facilities that had no recordkeeping violations were in Orlando and Providence.

Solicitation posted by the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General:

The United States Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to issue a Firm Fixed Price Contract for a multi-phased Office Renovation to their Headquarters facility located at 1735 N Lynn Street, Arlington, VA. The work includes all labor and materials necessary to complete the renovations in accordance with USPS OIG approved specifications and drawings. Proposers should recognize the building is occupied and the project will be completed in multiple phases to avoid disruption of facility operations. The estimated cost of the project is between $4.8 million and $5.6 million, with construction completion within 365 calendar days from receipt of notice to proceed for the total project. The project consists of renovating 123,126 interior sf in an existing 12-story commercial office building. Work includes demolition and new work on 6 floors. Demolition work includes but is not limited to, interior partitions, casework, acoustical ceilings, lighting, mechanical diffusers and plumbing fixtures. All mechanical ductwork shall remain. New work includes new gypsum board partitions, new finishes throughout including; acoustical ceiling tiles, gypsum bulkheads, painted walls, broadloom carpet and vinyl tiles. Work also includes new lighting, electrical and IT wiring throughout and limited mechanical, plumbing and sprinkler work.