Federal Reports

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Standard Programs and Processes 04.050, Investment Recovery, defines surplus material as material or equipment considered excess at a site that cannot be sold back to the original supplier or manufacturer.  Before items are considered surplus, TVA personnel are responsible for determining if the materials have a forecasted usage at the site or within the TVA fleet within 3 years.  From October 1, 2020, through March 31, 2025, TVA transferred approximately 370,000 inventory items to surplus with a book value of $34.7 million.  TVA’s Investment Recovery group is responsible for managing surplus inventory in a manner that recovers as much of TVA’s original capital investment as possible. 

Due to the significant investment TVA makes in inventory, we conducted an audit of TVA’s surplus inventory.  Our objective was to determine if TVA surplus inventory was managed in accordance with TVA policies and procedures.  The scope of this audit was inventory items transferred to surplus from October 1, 2020, through March 31, 2025. 

We determined, in general, TVA managed its surplus inventory in accordance with policies and procedures; however, we identified two opportunities for improvement. We found TVA policies and procedures could be improved by clearly defining how to determine forecasted usage across TVA. We also noted opportunities to improve the management of surplus inventory related to documentation completion.

The Office of Inspector General initiated this audit to evaluate $334,425,291 of costs claimed by Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC (NWP) from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020.

NWP managed and operated the Office of Environmental Management’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant under a contract with the Department of Energy from October 1, 2012, through February 3, 2023. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was built to safely dispose of the nation’s defense-related transuranic radioactive waste.

Specifically, our audit objective was to determine if costs charged to Department Contract No. 
DE-EM0001971 during fiscal year 2020 were allowable, allocable, and reasonable, in accordance with contract terms, applicable laws, and regulations.

We identified three material noncompliances and internal control deficiencies. We questioned nearly $7 million of costs claimed by NWP in its Statement of Costs Incurred and Claimed for fiscal year 2020. We questioned proposed labor and procurement costs due to unsupported bonus costs, executive compensation over the approved compensation limits, lobbying and procurement costs that exceeded subcontract ceilings. The internal control deficiencies were related to NWP’s accounting for unallowable costs and inadequate oversight of labor costs, invoice reviews, and various procurement processes.

To address the issues identified in this report, we made five recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that costs charged to the Department are allowable, allocable, and reasonable, in accordance with contract terms. Further, we recommend that the contracting officer work with NWP to resolve nearly $7 million in questioned costs identified in this report.

NWP concurred with the recommendations. However, NWP did not concur with the questioned costs.

Between March 2020 and March 2024, the Department of State (DoS) issued more than 12 million nonimmigrant U.S. visas without conducting in-person interviews or collecting fingerprints.  At the time, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) frontline officers at U.S. ports of entry conducting inspections were unaware that some foreign nationals had not been fully screened by DoS, thereby missing an opportunity to conduct enhanced screening and inspection prior to admission to the United States. 

In August 2022, the PACT Act significantly expanded veterans’ eligibility for benefits and services for conditions related to toxic exposure. The expansion added further complexity to VBA’s claims determination process, particularly given the voluminous guidance issued for nonpresumptive conditions—those conditions for which service connection cannot be granted on a presumptive basis. Notably, the law opened a new path for service connection for veterans with nonpresumptive conditions related to toxic exposure risk activity (TERA). The VA OIG conducted this review from October 2023 through May 2025 to determine whether VBA staff processed decisions in compliance with TERA procedures under the PACT Act that denied nonpresumptive conditions. The OIG focused on denials because of the potential impact of incorrect decisions on benefits received by veterans.

The review found VBA’s oversight lagged in ensuring accurate processing of nonpresumptive conditions under the PACT Act. While VBA took steps to improve PACT Act claims processing, these efforts have not remedied the problem of various inaccuracies related to nonpresumptive conditions. An OIG statistical analysis estimated 61 percent of all nonpresumptive, TERA-related decisions under the PACT Act that VBA denied from May 1 through August 31, 2023, had processing errors—some of which could have affected veterans’ benefits. For example, some errors showed that claims processors did not accurately identify toxic exposure claims, research and verify veterans’ participation in a TERA, request a medical exam and opinion regarding toxic exposure, or appropriately include key information in decisions for nonpresumptive conditions. Furthermore, PACT Act guidance is difficult for staff to navigate because it is frequently updated and spread among several different sources. VBA needs to improve its oversight to mitigate and prevent inconsistencies and errors. VBA concurred with the OIG’s three recommendations to correct processing errors, consolidate guidance, and evaluate controls.