All Reports

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, the OIG examined a cost proposal submitted for engineering and management services for hydroelectric power train and associated systems. Our objective was to determine if the vendor's cost proposal was fairly stated for a planned $90 million contract. In our opinion, proposed overhead rate to be applied to noncraft salaries was fairly stated.

We assessed operational and cultural strengths and areas for improvement that could impact Kingston Fossil Plant's (KIF) organizational effectiveness. We determined overall, KIF has significant opportunity to improve its effectiveness. While we identified strengths associated with trust of first-line supervisors and teamwork, KIF's operational performance in fiscal year 2015 was mixed, and the morale of the workforce was low primarily due to a lack of trust between plant management and employees.

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Supply Chain, the OIG examined a cost proposal submitted for construction and modification services. Our objective was to determine if the vendor's cost proposal was fairly stated for a planned $100 million contract. In our opinion, the proposal (1) included inconsistent and overstated labor markup rates; (2) did not comply with the request for proposal requirements related to nonmanual wages, resulting in overstated wage rates; and (3) included multiple fees in the Paradise Fossil Plant baseline costs.

The OIG audited TVA's Ethics Program to determine (1) compliance with applicable statutes and regulations and (2) if management has identified and incorporated best practices. In summary, we did not identify any areas where TVA's Ethics Program did not comply with requirements for federal agencies' ethics programs in Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, § 2638.203. Additionally, TVA's Ethics Program has incorporated many of the best practices identified, with the exception of having embedded ethics champions throughout the organization.

The OIG performed this audit to evaluate the effectiveness of TVA's Information Technology Enterprise Solutions Delivery (ESD) group in meeting TVA's mission and values. In summary, we found that ESD's operational maturity is well defined, there are opportunities to improve efficiencies in the documentation of IT development work. In addition, Enterprise Data Warehouse efforts planned withing the IT1K initiatives were not fully implemented as originally planned. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

The OIG performed this evaluation to determine whether the Nuclear Employee Concerns Program (ECP) was addressing employee concerns in an effective and timely manner for fiscal years 2013 and 2014. In summary, we determined Nuclear ECP generally addressed employee concerns in an effective manner; however, we identified areas for improvement related to documentation, the resolution follow-up process, and reporting to site management.

The OIG audited costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by URS Energy and Construction, Inc. (URS), under contract numbers 66777 and 72142. The audit included approximately $113.6 million in costs URS billed to TVA from January 1, 2012, to November 26, 2013.The OIG determined URS may have overbilled TVA $6,885,835 in shared cost savings and $317,852 for a completion bonus, due to potential misrepresentations in estimated material costs included in the Target Cost Estimate for the John Sevier Combined Cycle project.

The OIG performed this audit to evaluate the effectiveness of TVA's Information Technology Infrastructure Delivery (ID) group in meeting TVA's mission and values. In summary, we found that ID's operational maturity is well defined. However, there are opportunities for ID to improve its disaster recovery program and improve communications within one of ID's operational groups. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, the OIG examined proposed hourly labor rates and drilling services unit rates for a managed task contract for TVA's Dam Safety Assurance Program. Our objective was to determine if the proposed hourly labor rates and drilling services unit rates were fairly stated. In our opinion, the proposed hourly labor rates were fairly stated.

FISMA is meant to bolster computer and network security within the federal government. In accordance with FISMA and guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, TVA and the TVA OIG are required to report on agency-wide IT security and privacy practices annually. In our 2015 review of TVA's information security program, we found TVA was in compliance in the security program control areas of (1) identity and access management, (2) incident response and reporting, (3) plan of action and milestones, (4) remote access management, and (5) contingency planning.