As far as I am aware , no, The RRECS Guide is not a jointly agreed upon source document and generally not recognized as such. The absence of two signatures , one from The NRLCA and one from The USPS , make The Guide "difficult to cite" . Although, since three engineers , one postal, one NRLCA , and one neutral conducted the study(ies) and that Guide presented by The NRLCA is based upon their findings and the whole process was ordered by an arbitrator , I'm not seeing where there needs to be any agreement. Now, do I believe what we all finally saw in The Guide was REALLY what was determined by the engineering panel ? Absolutely not !!!! I know what The Clarke Ruling states regarding being bound by the findings of the engineering panel but I also know that there have been many occasions where NEITHER party adhered to a given arbitrated ruling. I just have a gut feeling that many a standard was negotiated after the fact. Anyway, this is , in part, from the ruling ; " Both parties agree to be bound by that determination, and the determination shall not be subject to grievance or arbitration by either party " So, The Guide presented is either what the engineering panel determined in whole or in part and / or what the PO and The NRLCA negotiated in whole or in part. At the end of it all, either The Guide is binding because it is what the engineering panel determined and / or both parties agreed to whatever standard(s) are presented in that Guide. I would argue that The Guide is a document to be cited based upon The Clarke Ruling.
