WASHINGTON – On Thursday, the U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Hoeven (R-ND) and U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) announced the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Inspector General has agreed to expand its postal audit of the Minnesota-North Dakota District to include Dickinson, Grand Forkst. The full audit report is expected to be released in Late March or early April.

The USPS IG informed the delegation it is conducting a review of the USPS’ nationwide effort to relocate mail processing at certain facilities. This report is expected to evaluate the Mail Processing Facility Reviews process and include findings and recommendations on how to improve the process.

“This expansion of USPS’ audit is welcome news, considering the wide range of challenges facing mail delivery in North Dakota,” said the delegation. “Our state’s residents rely on timely delivery of mail, medication and newspapers, and it is imperative that USPS identify the causes of these issues and resolve them as soon as possible. We look forward to the results of this audit and will continue working to secure improvements to mail service across North Dakota.”

The announcement by the USPS Inspector General was made in response to a request submitted by the North Dakota delegation on February 5 to expand the audit to include the Dickinson, Grand Forks, and Fargo facilities. Facilities experienced issues including mail and newspaper delays and broken and unavailable cluster box units.