Federal Reports

Title VII Preliminary Investigation Process

We audited $67.9 million in costs billed to TVA between November 2006 and December 2009 for modification, supplemental maintenance, and technical support services provided at TVA nuclear plants by Williams Plant Services, LLC (Williams). Our objective was to determine if the costs billed by Williams were in accordance with the terms of the contract. In summary, we found TVA had been overbilled $1,229,401 as follows:$714,288 was overbilled for subcontractor costs for Williams' sister company, Williams Specialty Services. The overbilling included (a) $631,131 in unallowable craft labor costs and associated fees, (b) $99,448 in costs not provided for in Williams' subcontract with Williams Specialty Services, (c) $7,489 in unsupported costs, and (d) a credit of $23,780 for an invoice that was underpaid by TVA.$279,288 was overbilled for payroll tax costs on non-manual employees.$225,463 was overbilled for labor costs, including (a) $190,804 in fringe benefit costs for non-manual employees who did not receive fringe benefits, (b) $26,349 in unsupported and duplicate labor billings, and (c) $8,310 for non-manual labor costs billed at incorrect markup rates.$10,362 was billed for ineligible fees applied to fitness for duty/badging costs. Summary Only

As a result of issues discussed during meetings at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), an audit was initiated to (1) assess the process for remediating Problem Evaluation Reports (PER) for the WBN Unit 2 project, and (2) determine the effectiveness of remediation stemming from the PER process.We identified improvements needed in the effectiveness and efficiency of the PER process. Specifically, we determined the process could be improved to assure Corrective Action Plans (CAP) were closed out timely by tracking Corrective Action Plans (CAP) that were not approved within 30 calendar days of Project Review Committee (PRC) review. Prior to the issuance of our report, WBN U2 issued a PER to address all CAP timeliness issues from a project-wide standpoint. We also identified an opportunity to improve the trending of PERs and recommended the WBN U2 Quality Assurance Manager expand the trending analysis guidelines to include categorizing of PERs by level of importance and analyzing PER trends according to importance as well as quantity. Summary Only