"Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (PAVE)"
Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (PAVE) is a software certification program that sets the standard of excellence for presort software products. The USPS analyzes presort software products to determine their mail sorting accuracy based on the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) standards. Software products that successfully complete the electronic and paper-hardcopy portions of the testing are granted the Gold level of PAVE certification.
The USPS defines a PAVE-certified software product as a presorting product with source code specifically written to operate on a particular platform or operating system and assigned a specific version number. Many products use different language compilers to process files within different operating systems or on different hardware platforms. To maintain the highest standards of quality assurance, PAVE will certify each product that operates on a particular platform at the current version number. One platform will be tested completely according to the test files ordered, and additional platforms will be tested randomly. The developer may either submit all platforms or just a few for certification. PAVE will evaluate each platform of the presort product separately and will issue a certificate for each platform that meets the PAVE accuracy requirements.
External Links
PAVE Page at USPS.gov