All Reports

The Office of the Inspector General audited the effectiveness of TVA’s phishing training provided to TVA users and determined that it was ineffective. In addition, we found TVA does not have formal procedures for conducting periodic phishing exercises, follow-up training for users who failed the periodic exercises, or consequences for users who fail to take the required phishing training. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

The Office of the Inspector General audited the effectiveness of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) implementation of a new identity and access management (IAM) solution. We found the TVA project team has effectively implemented the IAM program and related projects. TVA expanded the IAM program to include additional user access management tools and processes, which included privileged identity management.

Due to the importance of having critical spare parts available to reduce the amount of recovery time after events that may affect the transmission system, we conducted an evaluation to determine if Transmission is effectively managing critical spare parts. Transmission manages its critical spare parts as storm restoration material.We determined storm restoration material could be managed more effectively.

The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requires each agency’s Inspector General (IG) to conduct an annual independent evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the information security program (ISP) and practices of its respective agency. Our objective was to evaluate the Tennessee Valley Authority’s ISP and agency practices for ensuring compliance with FISMA and applicable standards, including guidelines issued by Office of Management and Budget and National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Hydro Generation, Central Region (Hydro Central) to identify strengths and risks that could impact Hydro Central’s organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths that positively affected the day-to-day activities of Hydro Central personnel. These strengths included (1) organizational alignment, (2) positive interactions within and outside of Hydro Central, (3) effective leadership, and (4) positive ethical culture.

Nuclear Power Group Standard Programs and Processes 03.21, Fatigue Rule and Work Hour Limits, includes rules regarding required average minimum days off for covered individuals, as well as overtime rules for how many hours can be worked in specific time periods. Our review of sampled employee and contract employee work hours and badging records for October 1, 2017, through June 30, 2019, identified no violations of nuclear fatigue rule minimum days off or overtime rules. However, we identified an area of deficiency related to Watts Bar’s performance of fatigue assessments.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of Hydro Generation, Raccoon Mountain (Hydro RM) to identify operational and cultural strengths and risks that could impact Hydro RM’s organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths within Hydro RM related to (1) organizational alignment, (2) positive interactions within and outside of Hydro RM, (3) effective leadership, and (4) positive ethical culture. However, we also identified risks that could impact Hydro RM’s ability to meet its responsibilities in support of PO’s mission.

We identified nine contractor employees who were H-1B visa nonimmigrants betweenJanuary 31, 2017, and January 31, 2019. We determined the nine contractor employees we identified as being H-1B nonimmigrants met selected criteria of the visa regulations. However, we could not confirm the actual number of H-1B visa nonimmigrants or foreign nationals who worked at TVA during the scope of our evaluation because the data in citizenship and visa fields in TVA’s Human Resources system was determined to be unreliable.

As part of our annual audit plan, we audited costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Enercon Services, Inc. (Enercon) for engineering services under Contract No. 7757. The contract provided for TVA to compensate Enercon for work on either a cost reimbursable or fixed price basis. Our audit objectives were to determine if (1) costs were billed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract and (2) tasks were issued using the most cost efficient pricing methodology.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Hydro Dispatch Control Center (HDCC) to identify operational and cultural strengths and risks that could impact HDCC’s organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths within HDCC related to (1) organizational alignment, (2) positive interactions within and outside of HDCC, (3) effective leadership, and (4) positive ethical culture. However, we also identified risks that could impact HDCC’s ability to meet its responsibilities in support of Power Operations’ mission.