Please find below the
Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' comments
The judges agree that the USPS is a great target for efficiency upgrades, and we particularly appreciated the vehicles aspect.
However, we felt it could not advance to be a finalist because the new focus on buildings detracted from additional details on the postal truck system we were looking for in a revision.
For example, one of us asked: "Where will this new capital come from? How much funding do we need? How long will it take to recover costs? What technologies might be effective? Are there comparable fleets?"
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' ratings
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Judges'' comments
This is a creative proposal that could be modeled first with USPS and then broadened to cover other federal agencies. It is also an idea that would certainly one that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on the government's contributions to climate change.
We will advance this to the semi-finalist round, and as we do so, point out a couple of items we feel should be addressed to improve the proposal:
1) Are there any existing examples (Dept of Defense perhaps) of federal agencies undertaking similar actions? What have the benefits of this been and the lessons learned?
2) We feel the author needs to spend more time considering the capital needed to effect this proposal. USPS is a cash-strapped agency and if granted more money, it would likely not use these funds to lower the emissions profiles of its trucks. What is the political case for Congress to support additional upfront capital to the USPS given their massive budget challenges -- could it in some way be tied to other efforts designed to reduce the Postal Service's deficit?
We would actually suggest, therefore, that the author considers whether it is possible to leverage capital another way and what steps the USPS can take practically to change their lease bidding process. Does the GSA (Government Services Administration) have a template for this? Is this already starting to happen?
By securing a source for funds that does not need Congressional approval, this proposal will also follow the contest prompt better, which asked for actions agencies can take that do not require Congressional action.
3) Are there other agencies with similar profiles that could scale this project up after USPS implements it?
4) Are there any numerical estimates for the USPS's current emissions profile and how much this would reduce emissions?
5) Would the proposal be more feasible if structured with an initial pilot project phase?
Good luck!
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