Federal Reports

The OIG audited $35.7 million in costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Trans-Ash, Inc. The contracts provided for Trans-Ash to perform(a) assistance in the off-site fly ash utilization project at Johnsonville Fossil Plant,(b) ash pond management services at Johnsonville Fossil Plant, and (c) additional work described in separate Task Agreements (TAO) executed by TVA and Trans-Ash. In summary, we determined Trans-Ash billed TVA (1) $1,479,630 for work that was not authorized under the contracts, and (2) $186,955 in excessive and unsupported costs. Specifically,(1) $1,479,630 was billed for work not included in the contracts' scopes and not authorized by separate TAOs. Additionally, the cost was billed using rates that were (a) not provided for by the contracts and (b) higher than rates included in another contract TVA had with Trans-Ash. As a result, the unauthorized cost was inflated by $81,434.(2) $186,955 was overbilled due to:- $170,993 in excessive costs that were billed on three TAOs;- $13,866 in unsupported costs; and- $2,096 in excessive costs billed due to an inflated tonnage rate.We recommended TVA management:1. Determine if $1,479,630 of unauthorized work should be recovered from Trans-Ash. If TVA management decides to pay for the unauthorized work, it should take action to recover $81,434 of inflated billings from Trans-Ash. Additionally, management needs to implement controls to ensure future work with Trans-Ash is properly authorized and billed using established contractual provisions.2. Take action to recover $186,955 in overbilled costs from Trans-Ash. Summary Only