All Reports

The Office of the Inspector General audited the savings guaranteed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc., (DBA) for work management improvement services. DBA guaranteed efficiency and productivity gains would result in minimum total cost savings to TVA of $17,971,760. Our objective was to determine if DBA complied with the terms of the contract and achieved the guaranteed cost savings. Although we did not find evidence of noncompliance with the contract, we could not determine if DBA achieved the guaranteed cost savings.

There have been a number of recent incidents requiring emergency response at TVA fossil plants, including the ash spill at Kingston Fossil Plant and fires at multiple plants. This review was initiated to assess TVA coal and gas fleet emergency preparedness.The objective of this review was to determine if Coal Operations and Gas Operations have made progress in their emergency preparedness and response program since the ash spill at Kingston Fossil Plant.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 (WBN2) management requested the Office of the Inspector General to perform a review of the commodity tracking process being implemented for the WBN2 construction project. This review was intended to help TVA gain confidence in their commodity tracking process, which is used in conjunction with other tools and metrics to gauge the project's progress.We identified minor vulnerabilities in the commodity tracking process for the WBN2 construction project related to potential duplication of data entry and review.

TVA provides biweekly vehicle allowances to eligible officers and key managers in accordance with Vehicle Allowance Guidelines that were put into effect April 1, 2006. Additionally, TVA maintains a light fleet of about 2,900 vehicles, which are available for assignment to any TVA employee with a business need. Business units with an assigned vehicle pay a monthly fee to TVA Fleet Services for use of the vehicle. In fiscal year 2011, TVA paid $648,050 in vehicle allowances to 65 employees.

This investigation was initiated after the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) received a complaint alleging the TVA Board of Directors (Board) failed to give proper notice as required by the Government in the Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act) when the Board selected William D. (Bill) Johnson as TVA's President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).Our investigation found the following:The Sunshine Act requires public meetings by an executive agency be open to the public.

TVA's meter testing was identified as a key internal control in the revenue recognition process after TVA moved from end-use to wholesale billing. The OIG audited the adequacy of TVA's process for testing meters owned and read by TVA.

The OIG audited TVA's fiscal year 2012 compliance with the Improper Payment Information Act of 2002, as amended. In summary, we found TVA was in compliance with applicable IPIA requirements.

In May 2004, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) incorporated the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Standard 805 as a voluntary alternative to the existing fire protection standards as published in Section 50.48, "Fire Protection," and Appendix R of the 10 Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50).

At the request of Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, we audited AREVA NP, Inc.'s calendar year 2011 rate adjustments required under the terms in its contract. The contract provided for AREVA to complete engineering, licensing, construction, and startup operations of a single Bellefonte Nuclear Plant unit by the end of 2017. The objective of our audit was to determine if AREVA's rate adjustments were in accordance with the contract terms.In summary, we determined AREVA's net credit adjustment of $134,544 due to TVA was understated.