Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. - Contract No. 13125

As part of our annual audit plan, we audited costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. (Geosyntec) to provide coal combustion residual and dam safety engineering services under Contract No. 13125. Our audit objectives were to determine if (1) costs were billed in accordance with the terms of the contract and (2) tasks were issued using the most cost-efficient pricing methodology. Our audit scope included about $11.3 million in costs billed to TVA from February 6, 2018, through June 27, 2022, of which over 97 percent was billed using T&M compensation terms. In summary, we determined: Geosyntec overbilled TVA $317,583, including (1) $304,690 for an ineligible fee applied to T&M labor rates, (2) $10,576 for labor billing rate errors, and (3) a net $2,317 for overbilled other direct costs. We also found the contract's compensation terms did not reference the contract's rate attachment for equipment and specialized computer applications or specify when the rate attachment was to be used. The use of T&M pricing terms on projects caused TVA to pay about $822,869 more than it would have if cost-reimbursable payment terms had been used for those projects. Additionally, if TVA utilized cost-reimbursable pricing for the remaining contract spend, they could potentially avoid $192,362 in future costs. (Summary Only)