The Presort Accuracy, Validation, and Evaluation (PAVE) program is a process designed in cooperation with the mailing industry to evaluate presort software and determine its accuracy in sorting address files according to Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) standards. PAVE is available only to software and hardware developers, i.e., companies that develop presort software or manufacture presorting equipment for resale or internal use. Participation in the program is purely voluntary.
Although this program evaluates and validates presort products manufactured by developers, PAVE does not guarantee acceptance of mail prepared using PAVE-certified hardware and/or software; however, it does provide national approval of computer-generated facsimiles of United States Postal Service (USPS) postage statements, standardized documentation, and other presort documentation.
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. Therefore, 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.
