All Reports

As part of a series of reviews to evaluate Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) actions to address key risks, the OIG evaluated TVA's physical assaults risk. Physical assaults risk was identified in the 2011 Enterprise Risk Management Program. The objective of our review was to evaluate TVA employee, contractor, and visitor physical assaults risk, identifying opportunities to improve mitigation strategies and assess whether mitigation strategies were designed appropriately to address the identified risk.

As part of a series of reviews to evaluate Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) actions to address key risks, the OIG evaluated TVA's physical assaults risk. Physical assaults risk was identified in the 2011 Enterprise Risk Management Program. The objective of our review was to evaluate TVA employee, contractor, and visitor physical assaults risk, identifying opportunities to improve mitigation strategies and assess whether mitigation strategies were designed appropriately to address the identified risk.

We performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. for providing project planning, management, oversight, and environmental services to assist TVA in the recovery and remediation associated with the Kingston Fossil Plant Dredge Cell Incident. Our audit included about $37 million in costs billed to TVA from February 6, 2009, to December 31, 2011.

The OIG performed four agreed-upon procedures, which were requested solely to assist TVA management in determining the validity of the Winning Performance payout awards for the year ended September 30, 2012.

We are pleased to present our report for the period March 31, 2012, through October 1, 2012. Once again our theme focuses on navigating risks faced by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)-specifically, cyber security risk. Business leaders and government officials alike recognize the significant risk posed from cyber security threats that are constantly changing.

Because of the importance of successful capital project management, and in light of recent capital project cost overruns and schedule delays, we initiated a review of Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) capital project management. The objective of our work was to determine whether the Project/Portfolio Management (PPM) function of PowerPlant meets the needs of the strategic business units (SBU).PowerPlant replaced TVA's Project Justification System on March 7, 2011, at a cost of about $7 million.

TVA's Board of Directors approved a Financial Trading Pilot Program in September 2003 to hedge or otherwise limit the economic risks associated with the price of commodities covered by TVA's Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA). At that time, the maximum Value at Risk (VaR) was not to exceed $5 million on an annual basis without the approval of the TVA Board. In May 2005 the TVA Board approved the request to expand and fully implement the Financial Trading Program (FTP).

TVA established the Direct Load Control (DLC) program in the 1970s as a means to shift load from on-peak/high-priced periods to off-peak/low-priced periods. At the time of our audit, there were 12 distributors participating in the DLC program. Credits provided to these distributors during 2011 ranged from $5,909 to more than $1 million for a total cost to TVA of $2,365,819. The OIG audited TVA's DLC program to address concerns received regarding the benefits of the program.

We audited $10.4 million in costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company of Connecticut for nuclear Authorized Inspection Agency service under several contracts. The $10.4 million billed included (1) $4.8 million billed between October 1, 2001 and December 31, 2008 under one contract; (2) $4.1 million billed between December 1, 2007 and August 19, 2011, under second contract; and (3) $1.5 million billed between January 1, 2009, and July 22, 2011, under a third contract.

With the age of TVA generating assets, the need to understand the condition of these assets and use this information to effectively plan is critical. As a result, the OIG initiated a review to determine how TVA assesses the condition of electric assets and uses this information in planning. This review did not include assessing the condition of TVA assets.