Independent Examination of Cost Proposal for Transmission Construction Services

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, we examined the cost proposal submitted by a company for transmission construction services. Our examination objective was to determine if the company's cost proposal was fairly stated for a planned 5-year, $100 million contract. In our opinion, the company's cost proposal was overstated. Specifically, the proposed markup rates on craft wages for recovery of the company's indirect costs were overstated compared to recent actual costs. We estimated TVA could avoid about $2.2 million over the planned $100 million contract by negotiating reduced markups to more accurately reflect the company's recent actual costs. (Summary Only)